There is no government in the history of this province, under the leadership of the Premier, that invested more in public health care than this government. Mr. Speaker, that includes investing in health human resources.

Since March 2020, we have added over 10,900 health care professionals across this province. This includes making sure that, in the future, we also have health care professionals by building medical schools in places like Brampton and Scarborough, making sure we almost double the number of doctors in the north. We put forward programs in the fall economic statement: $342 million to support adding over 5,000 new and upskilled registered nurses and registered practical nurses, as well as an additional 8,000 personal support workers.

Every step of the way, Mr. Speaker, the members opposite have voted against each of these measures to help support health human resources across this province. That is a shame.

I want to thank the member from Oakville for his question. It is relevant because we didn’t sign the first deal, as proposed by the opposition. We signed a better deal for the people of Ontario, a deal with $13.2 billion of investment. We’re talking about literally $3 billion more, an additional year—the only province in the federation to have that type of funding certainty—and a commitment to for-profit and non-profit child care operators, in which those 30% of for-profit operators would have been omitted if, God forbid, we had followed the advice of the opposition.

We stood up for all families, for parental choice and ensured that every single parent is eligible for the reductions they deserve: $4,000 this year on average; $12,000 per child next year on average, on the way to $10 a day by the year 2025.

This is a massive step forward as we encourage more economic participation of women in the economy, and we reduced costs at a time of national inflation. We’re going to continue to work with all levels of government to deliver the affordability parents deserve.

Our Premier has a mandate to get the job done, to reduce fees, and part of our plan is to listen to the advice of the very operators, often women entrepreneurs, who run these centres.

I want to give a shout-out to the member from Ajax, the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education, who has been leading efforts to streamline the process, to reduce red tape, to create funding guideline guarantees—exactly what the sector wanted—and more time for them to enrol and build comfort, to November 1, as we work together to increase participation, decrease costs and make life affordable for Ontario families.

My question is to the Premier. Carmen is the primary caregiver for her 91-year-old mother. Her mom qualifies for two showers a week through home care, and Carmen made an inquiry to see if she could get a bit more. Her mom was re-evaluated and now she gets one shower per week.

Is that an example of the enhanced home care that this government keeps boasting about?

So is that the solution? Pouring billions of dollars isn’t the answer if Carmen’s mom only gets one shower, at the end of the day, through home care. I keep hearing “billions of dollars,” but it’s services to people that matter. Is this government actually going to provide the service through public health care?

When I talk to heads of nurses’ unions, when I talk to doctors, when I talk to health care professionals, they say, “We want to work as a team. We want to be part of that continuum of care for the patient.” It is exactly why we are encouraging funding and enabling Ontario health teams to be operating in the province of Ontario. From diagnosis through treatment through placement, we now have a coordinated system that allows that patient to have a touchpoint no matter where they are in their continuum of care. That’s the kind of thing that gives patients and families comfort, that they know that wherever they are in their treatment, they are going to have a touchpoint and a group of professionals who are working together for the best outcome.

We are investing not only in the nursing visits, in the shifting hours, in the therapy visits—including physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology—but we’re also doing it within the community. That is, as many of us know, the programs like adult day programs, meal services, transportation, caregiver supports and assisted living services.

Will the member opposite be supporting this $1-billion investment in our budget?

We’ll continue to do that innovation. We’ll continue to bring forward the things that people need when they want to stay safely in their own homes. That is including an investment that we have made in this year’s budget. I hope the member opposite takes a close look at what that investment will mean to his community and people across Ontario, and do the right thing and vote for our budget.

Supplementary.

Soaring inflation is causing parents in my riding to spend more money and save less. Often these families must work more to keep up with rising costs.

Under the previous Liberal government, the cost of child care rose 400% from an already astronomically high number. The government negotiated with the federal government to lower these costs, but our province was the last to sign an agreement to bring affordable, $10-per-day child care to the people of Ontario. The Liberals and NDP say they would have signed a deal to provide relief earlier.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Education, why was Ontario the last province in the nation to sign a deal with the federal government and what difference will the working parents of this province see in this period of economic uncertainty?

The government needs to help operators sign this agreement that will put hard-earned dollars back into the pockets of families. We need to do everything we can to incentivize operators to opt in to this deal that will provide certainty for parents. The minister has changed aspects of the deal and now operators are saying they are confused, which impedes their willingness to sign on.

Speaker, what exactly has the government changed in this child care agreement and will these changes make a substantive difference for operators who have not signed on?

I’m very proud to be here to represent the very green riding of Beaches–East York.

My question is to the Premier, whom I know well from our days at Toronto city hall together. Last week, the federal government put out a climate adaptation report. Guess what, Mr. Speaker? Ontario is falling behind on mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, and that is because of “limited political will,” as the report states. Ontario’s infrastructure is especially vulnerable to climate change and will result in cascading economic and social impacts. The cost of inaction for climate change is too much.

So far, I have not seen the government propose anything to protect and create resilient infrastructure. What good is building highways if they flood over and have to get repaired every single year? We could be creating the strongest, most resilient province in this country. Instead, we cannot even say the word “climate” in the throne speech.

Mr. Speaker, why won’t this government take climate change seriously? When can Ontarians expect this government to stand up and take a leadership role to safeguard the future of Ontarians?

My question is to the Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Constituents in my riding of Niagara West face a shortage of skilled trades, frankly, like we have never seen before. Families depend on these trades to maintain their homes, their vehicles and their businesses. Entrepreneurs and workers alike need these trades to build the products that we know will make us the envy of the world.

Education investments and skills development are crucial to keeping our local economies competitive and building up our skilled trades, so could the minister please tell this House what the government is doing to invest in and develop talent in the skilled trades?

What is our government doing to ensure that there is training for people in Lincoln, West Lincoln, Grimsby and across the Niagara region to make these projects a reality?

Speaker, to the Premier: During the provincial election, 11 people died in a climate pump storm system that charged through Ontario and Quebec. The climate crisis is deadly and yet the Premier has no credible climate plan. When will the Premier present a serious and funded plan to address the climate crisis?

I appreciate the minister’s response, but quite frankly, this government seems to still be stuck on step one. We need to stop only doing assessments and really begin to implement measures. “Get it done,” as you say.

The report says, “There is little evidence of adaptation being mainstreamed into decision-making.” Last week, at AMO, I attended session after session after session that highlighted the need for climate action to be tied to infrastructure. Municipalities are asking for this government to step up and actually start implementing climate strategies to create resilient communities.

Mr. Speaker, instead of forcing cities, municipalities, Indigenous communities and climate leaders to take action themselves in an attempt to safeguard their towns and homes, Queen’s Park needs to step up and create a climate framework for this province.

Will this government finally agree to add the lens of climate adaptation to their policies and decisions in order to help our municipal counterparts thrive and create truly resilient communities, and allow Ontario to adapt to the climate consequences that we have created?

I want to thank the member for Niagara West for that question and for his promotion of the well-paying careers in the skilled trades in the Niagara region. You’ve done heroic work down there—to the member. So I want to thank him for that.

Mr. Speaker, since day one, our government has been on a mission to get more people into the skilled trades. These careers are exciting, in-demand, come with good pay and benefits, often with a defined pension, and you can be damn proud of what you build. The skilled trade system, however, suffered massive neglect thanks to the former Liberal government.

Today, nearly one in three journeypersons are over the age 55 and will soon retire. That is why our government is making truly historic investments—in fact, over $1.5 billion over four years—to fix the problems that we inherited. Mr. Speaker, it’s all hands on deck, and we’re working with employers and unions every day to prepare more people for these lifelong careers.

Through our Skills Development Fund, we’re giving people right across Ontario the skills they need to fill in-demand jobs and earn bigger paycheques for themselves, but, most importantly, for their families.

Mr. Speaker, our government has an ambitious plan to build Ontario and we’re leaving nobody behind.

I appreciate the question from the member opposite.

The government is working diligently on building adaptation and resiliency. That’s why we were the first government to launch a climate change impact assessment, something that could have been done under the decade-plus rule of the previous government but wasn’t. We have launched that impact assessment to work with municipalities at a regional level to identify areas of vulnerability and act. That’s why our Minister of Infrastructure has invested historic dollars into rural municipalities, northern municipalities, and is working around the clock with her federal counterparts at making these historic investments.

Also, that member would know very well, coming from the Beaches, the record investment in stormwater and waste water investments under this Premier. In fact, I’ll quote the mayor, who said this was a “significant investment” to benefit and improve the lives of Toronto residents. That member knows that because, in her community, under the previous Liberal government, sewage was discharged in record amounts into Lake Ontario. This Premier is cleaning it up.

Step one is the platitudes that we heard from the previous government. Step two is meaningful action, making investments into municipalities, something this government has done. Thanks to the leadership of this Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, we have record partnerships, historic investments into the municipalities. Thanks to this Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, we’re creating clean, green jobs of the future, making record investments into the electrification of the automobile that’s breathing new life. We’re taking two million cars off the road thanks to partnering with Algoma and Dofasco, and those workers are staying right here in Ontario. You know where they would have gone? Step one for them was leaving the province, under the previous government.

Our government is taking meaningful action, attracting jobs and talent into this province, and we’re building a greener future—

Speaker, all they offer is doom and gloom, driving jobs out of this province. This Premier is building a cleaner, greener future.

They offer doom, gloom and misery. This Premier offers green jobs, opportunities for young boys or girls in the trades, and we’re proud of it.

This government will continue to make the historic investments into health care that we have since being elected. This starts with ensuring that we have health care workers across this province, and that is why we have put forward programs that will, as in the fall economic statement, invest over $342 million to add over 5,000 new and upskilled registered nurses and registered practical nurses, as well as an additional 8,000 personal support workers.

Mr. Speaker, this is on top of the investments we made to ensure that our health human resources across the province are appreciated by investing another $763 million to give up to $5,000 per person, which is almost equivalent to a 6% increase on the average salary to those health care workers in Ontario.

We will continue to make the necessary investments in health care and health human resources across the province.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to make sure that health human resources and health care workers across this province are supported, and we will continue to make those investments by working with our stakeholders in the industry.

I want to thank the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston for a great question, and I want to assure him and everyone in the province that we’re going to have the power that we need for families and businesses when they need it.

Our government has a plan in place. We’ve extended the Pickering nuclear facility to 2025. We have a plan in place for when the Pickering facility is no longer operating, and we have a plan to power this province when it comes to electrification. Because of the unprecedented success that we’ve experienced with the leadership of our Premier and our Minister of Economic Development, we have electric vehicle platforms coming to Ontario now to build the cars of the future here. Those EV batteries that are going to power those cars are going to be constructed here in our province. World-leading green steel is going to be made right here in Ontario.

These successes are great news, and we know there are going to be more of them to come. We have a plan to power our province, including the world’s first grid-scale small modular reactor at Darlington.

My question is to the Minister of Health. Nurses who work full time in health care with good union jobs with benefits and what used to be good wages are making the unimaginable decision to leave their jobs in hospitals to go to private temp agencies without benefits or protections. Remember, Speaker, that hospitals are forbidden by this Premier from paying fair or competitive wages because of Bill 124.

All nurses are paid for with public dollars. This Premier is making darn sure that private agencies can reach deep into the public money bucket.

Hospitals want to keep their nurses and pay them fair and competitive wages. Why won’t this Conservative government remove their public sector wage cap and let them?

This is not about opportunities; it is a racket that is bleeding public tax dollars out of our health care system and into private agencies—publicly paid-for, privately delivered, Premier-approved. Why won’t this Premier scrap Bill 124 and allow hospitals to pay their nurses what they are worth?

I rise today for the first time in the House to address a question, and I’d like to raise it to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

While former Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty mused about implementing a strong-mayor system, it is strange to see why current Liberal members now question its value. At the time, Premier McGuinty and the then Liberal cabinet were dismayed at what they saw at Toronto city council. They were concerned about the lack of action taken by city council to cut through red tape on behalf of their constituency.

We must act now and empower mayors so there is no further delay on priority projects. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing inform the House how the strong-mayor legislation will ensure the mayors of the city of Toronto and Ottawa have the tools they need to support Ontario and deliver the results that their communities need?

Strong mayoral powers are needed now more than ever to cut through the red tape and move priority projects forward. Year after year, new studies, reports and commission findings say the same thing: We are falling behind on building homes, and immediate action needs to happen.

My constituents want more home options, from empty nesters looking to downsize to young couples looking to find a home to raise their family. We must build more homes of all kinds. To do that, we must streamline.

Mr. Speaker, what is the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing doing to get more housing built across the 444 municipalities in the province?

I want to thank the member for Scarborough Centre for that question and congratulate him on taking his place in the Legislative Assembly.

He is absolutely right: We’re giving mayors the tools they need to get it done because we know that municipal governments play a crucial role in determining housing supply.

The reality is, Speaker, over one third of the growth expected in the next decade will take place in the cities of Toronto and Ottawa. These changes will help drive increased housing supply in growing municipalities by speeding up local planning approvals and helping the councils with their discussions to be effective on provincial priorities. We need to empower local leaders with the tools they need to get shovels in the ground. We’re counting on them to cut red tape and get housing built faster so families can realize the dream of home ownership.

We know that there’s no silver bullet that’s going to solve the housing supply crisis. The province remains a strong partner in getting more homes built faster and making sure our promise to Ontarians that we’re going to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

Our housing supply action plan implementation team will draw on the work of the Housing Affordability Task Force to advise on the policies and the tools that we need to put in place to get housing built faster. The team is going to work with experts, including municipal leaders and industry members, on how to best implement the recommendations from the housing supply task force. We stand ready to support municipalities to get shovels in the ground that are committed to growth and to cutting red tape.

Supplementary question.

Through you, Mr. Speaker, to the Minister of Energy: Ontario has one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world, with over 90% of generation creating zero emissions. This clean grid is the envy of nations around the world, and should be a point of pride for Ontarians.

We heard earlier this week from the Minister of Energy on how nuclear power will continue to be the backbone of this clean grid. I’ve heard from my constituents, who are looking for certainty that our province will have the power we need, particularly as we continue to secure new investments and as we prepare for the Pickering nuclear generating station to go off-line.

Through you to the minister: What is our government doing to ensure we have our clean, affordable and reliable power we need to support our growing economy?

We all know that under the former Liberal government, jobs and investment were fleeing the province every single day as electricity prices were increasing by 8% a year.

We know that to support electrification and economic growth, we need to continue our track record of keeping prices low. With an increasing population, growing economy, widespread adoption of electric vehicles and the electrification of public transit systems and major industrial processes, demand for electricity will continue to increase.

Speaker, what is the minister doing to ensure we have an affordable electricity supply that will support new companies, new investments and new jobs coming to Ontario?