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.

I’m disappointed today. I’m disappointed that the Conservative government was not able to get an update done of this important budget document, first issued four months ago, when so much has changed around us. Interest rates have gone up. Inflation is soaring. The cost of food is soaring, and families are feeling the pain of that. There is an ongoing war in Ukraine, and many economists and individuals are worried about how we will weather these challenges. This budget document has few mentions of climate change and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, two of the many great challenges facing our province and our country.

Ontario’s economy has weathered COVID quite well, thanks in large part to federal transfers for health care spending and growth in personal taxes from the revenues that federal programs like CERB and CEWS provided to workers. But we also need to prepare now for how a possible economic slowdown based on global supply chain challenges, rising interest rates and the cost of living could affect Ontarians. This means spending more now to prepare for transitioning workers to new jobs in new industries. This government has a history of underspending on education, including post-secondary education, and that is not a fiscally responsible approach to making sure that our workforce and our workers are prepared for the economy of the future.

This government also has a history of underestimating its overall financial results. While prudence and fiscal responsibility are admirable features of a budget, underspending on priorities—like health care and protecting our kids, our seniors and our most vulnerable—is not.

Take the latest year of 2021-22. The FAO projects that the 2021-22 budget will be $8.1 billion, versus the government’s deficit projection of $13.5 billion. That’s a difference of $5.4 billion. That money could have gone a long way if it had been spent on treating health care workers with respect and paying them a fair wage by repealing Bill 124 and not cancelling the 10 paid sick days implemented by the Liberal government that would have helped to relieve the staffing crisis our health care system is facing.

This Conservative government talks frequently about how it is working for the people of Ontario, yet in 2021-22, the Expenditure Monitor report from the FAO indicates that the government underspent from its plan: On children’s and social services, it underspent by $662 million; on K-12 students, it underspent by $284 million; and on post-secondary education, it underspent by $289 million. That money could have been spent to better support our students and education workers by providing better mental health supports, which were, and continue to be, much needed during the pandemic.

Given this underspending and strong revenue growth projections in the budget, I believe it is the responsible and moral thing to do to increase ODSP rates by 20%. It is within our fiscal ability, and it would greatly improve the quality of life some of our most vulnerable citizens are facing.

This budget still focuses on building a new highway, the 413—this government’s pet project—which paves over more than 2,000 acres of some of our most precious farmland, not to mention over 400 acres of the greenbelt, at a time when Ontario should be preparing for ongoing global food supply challenges. We’ve seen the cost of food rise in response to the war in Ukraine and many other global factors. The government has proposed the creation of a food security strategy, but is also proposing to build a highway which will pave over that fertile farmland and spur development on that critical land. So we see billions of dollars for highways, but a mere strategy for food security. That, to me, is not fiscal responsibility.

Let’s talk a little more about this highway. The Conservative government likes to say this project will save commuters 30 minutes per day and get them home to their families sooner, but data from their own ministry says otherwise. In May 2022, the Toronto Star reported, “That’s the promise that appears right at the top of the official website for the proposed Highway 413: The new highway will save commuters as much as 30 minutes each way when crossing the Greater Toronto Area.

“It’s an appealing message for commuters—and voters—but a Ministry of Transportation analysis obtained by the Star suggests it’s not true.

“That’s because the calculation doesn’t take into account the existing 407 ETR, a major toll highway commuters can already use. If that highway is factored in, according to a briefing note prepared Sept. 16, 2021, by a team of Ministry of Transportation officials ... as of 2041 commuters using the already-existing 400, 401 and 407 highways could cross the GTA 16 minutes faster than they could using the proposed Highway 413 alone.”

Madam Speaker, this highway will hurt our environment by adding greenhouse gases. It wasn’t fiscally responsible of this Conservative government to not pursue $1 billion in penalty payments from the 407 during 2020 and 2021—$2 billion that would have added to the treasury—and it’s not fiscally responsible to spend $10 billion on the proposed Highway 413.

Let’s talk about energy. We need sufficient capital investment to address our growing energy needs related to the thousands of new electric vehicles we’re building to go on those highways, especially as the Pickering nuclear plant is to begin decommissioning in 2024. The government is proposing turning Ontario into a green vehicle and clean steel powerhouse, but does not have a robust plan to produce the energy needed to see that transition through and is not committed to ensuring the energy that we create remains green. Expanding the use of electric vehicles will require an estimated 26 million megawatt hours by 2042. The Pickering nuclear plant is 14% of our energy supply. The government plans to replace electricity from Pickering with emitting sources. New energy that is not clean energy is not good for the air we breathe, nor is it good for attracting companies that are looking for clean energy sources.

Education and innovation: In 2019, we saw a decrease in funding to post-secondary education of over 13%, or $1.5 billion. This was compounded by a further cut of $1 billion in 2020. We’re not projected to return to that funding level even in 2024. There is an opportunity cost to four years of cuts to the development of an educated and innovative workforce. The government understands the concept of vertical integration—their plan for electric vehicles does just that—but the most important thing that will help grow the economy of Ontario is education. Without strong, continuous and innovative primary, secondary and post-secondary education, we will not be able to attract and retain the innovative workforce and companies of the 21st century, the high-tech industry that we also need.

Madam Speaker, I’d like to also talk about transparency. Like Bill 7, which violates long-term-care patients’ rights, the budget bill has not gone to committee for review, but is being rushed through to a final vote without giving stakeholders and other experts the opportunity to speak to what’s in the budget and what is not. As the legislated budget deadline of March 31, 2022, was looming, the government changed the rules and passed legislation to allow it to present the budget a month later, by April 30, allowing it to follow the new rules it had set for itself by issuing the budget on April 28. We also have not yet seen estimates—that is, more detail on how the government will spend the money included in this budget.

The Auditor General, in her Review of the Pre-Election 2022 Multi-Year Fiscal Plan, made some statements of note that should be taken seriously: The “supporting documentation prepared by ministries was not as detailed as the information used to support the previous pre-election report in 2018.”

More importantly, she reports on some exceptions. Exceptions from an auditor are a big deal and should be taken seriously. Her report says the government’s multi-year fiscal plan “understated estimates of provincial revenue from corporate tax in each of the three years” by $1.5 billion to $3.4 billion in 2022-23 alone. It should be noted that she was right on this point for 2022. The government’s budget for corporate taxes was $14.4 billion, and the actual amount spent was $22.2 billion. This government could be spending that money, almost $8 billion, now to pay our health care workers a fair wage instead of asking the federal government for more.

Ontario is a wealthy province. We are rich in resources and rich in talent. We need to ensure that we deploy our vast resources wisely by protecting our environment, building a clean energy supply, investing in our future in a way that is environmentally and fiscally sustainable, by supporting our younger generations with an education system that allows them to grow and develop to the best of their ability, by working towards reconciliation with the Indigenous communities.

Instead of building unnecessary highways, let’s spend that $10 billion to build up our public health care, our public education, our environment, clean industry, social and mental support systems, to ensure we have a healthy, strong and vibrant society and economy in the years ahead.