It’s a pleasure for me to put a question to my good friend and neighbour from the riding of Windsor–Tecumseh, who, by coincidence, is from a hometown whose nomenclature hails back to the history of our area, just as the name of my hometown hails back to the history of our area. So I would like to ask the kind member if he would touch a little bit on the history of his hometown and give the members of this House the benefit of the knowledge of what we’re all about.

Questions?

Further debate?

First of all, I would like to congratulate the member from Windsor–Tecumseh for his election. What an accomplishment. You were a councillor. You were actually recognized as one of the 40 leaders under 40 in Windsor–Tecumseh. It’s a pleasure to see you here.

My question would be if there’s anything that you want to accomplish in the next four years for your riding. If you could share that as well.

I wish to use my limited time today for my inaugural speech to tell you why I’m here and what I hope to accomplish as the new MPP for Don Valley West.

Before I do that, I want to acknowledge that we are on the land of many First Nations peoples and recognize their enduring presence here and the work still needed to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action.

Je tiens à vous féliciter, monsieur le Président, pour votre réélection à la présidence. Je voudrais également féliciter tous les députés ici pour leurs campagnes réussies, ainsi que les candidats de tous les partis qui ont eu le courage de participer à l’élection.

Thank you to the residents of Don Valley West for talking to me at the doors, on the phone, at community events and at three debates during the campaign. I’m humbled by and grateful for their support. I will work hard and to the best of my ability to represent their needs here at Queen’s Park, and will strive to exceed their expectations.

I’m also humbled to sit with my fellow Liberal MPPs, both because of the small number of us elected here but also because of their mighty and varied talents.

Thank you to my family, extended family, friends, neighbours, campaign team, volunteers and donors who supported me throughout my first election campaign and for bringing such enthusiasm and delicious food to the office:

—my loving husband, Dave, and wonderful children, Maddi and Luke Farwell, who are here today, who campaigned almost as often as I did and who gave advice and help with things I couldn’t do myself;

—my parents, Keith and Barb Bowman, also here, who as always gave me their unwavering support and love even when they asked if I knew what I was getting myself into—and I’m sure I didn’t;

—my supportive in-laws, Peter and Barbara;

—my campaign team, many of whom are also here: Michael Fontein, Fatma Said, Abeir Liton, Caroline Leclerc, Jenna Ghassabeh, Ethan Ullmann and Shafiq Qaadri.

I would like to name all my dedicated volunteers but in the interests of time I will name a few to represent the many: Maralynn Beach, Ali Baig, Masood Alam, and members of the Don Valley West PLA.

To the rest of my team, ranging in age from 12 to 87 and from all parts of the riding, thank you. You all made our campaign so much fun.

I want to also give a special thanks to Kathleen Wynne, the past MPP and former Premier, for both her support and for giving me space as the new candidate to chart my own path.

Don Valley West has been my home for 28 years, and it is where my husband and I have raised our two children. It is a wonderfully diverse community. As candidates, we meet many interesting people during our campaign. Some who stood out for me were two Afghani refugees, two sisters, who had just landed in Toronto, and Canada’s own Gordon Lightfoot—especially since I’m fan.

Don Valley West was also home to John Bosley, who served as the Speaker of the House of Commons from 1984 to 1986 and who, sadly, passed away in April of this year, and Agnes Macphail, one of the first two women elected to the Ontario Legislature, in 1943.

Many Ontarians and indeed Canadians benefit from the great work of organizations in our community, like Sunnybrook Veterans Centre, Holland Bloorview kids rehab hospital, York U’s Glendon college, Sunnybrook Hospital, the Canadian Film Institute and the CNIB. It is also home to Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy in Thorncliffe Park, one of Canada’s largest all-kindergarten schools, with 500 students, most of whom have a first language other than English.

Madam Speaker, I so appreciated listening to the inaugural speeches during the first two weeks of this 43rd Parliament. Hearing the personal stories of my colleagues in the House, including from Windsor–Tecumseh today, demonstrates that we have much more in common than the political differences we tend to focus on here. You will hear some of that similarity as I share my story.

I am descended from settler ancestors who came to Canada in the 1800s from Londonderry, Northern Ireland; Argyllshire, Scotland; and Cornwall, England, all of whom were farmers in southern Ontario.

I am fortunate to be born on this land. I was born in London, Ontario, eldest daughter of Keith and Barb Bowman and big sister to Mike, Dan and Dennis.

My parents both grew up on farms near Stratford. They learned about hard work by necessity, and my brothers and I learned it from them.

My father was one of eight children, my mom one of seven, and my paternal grandmother one of 14. Family is everywhere, and it’s a big part of who I am.

My paternal grandmother, Florence Bowman, had 23 grandchildren and 39 great-grandchildren. She died in her 100th year, on March 4, 2020, just as the COVID pandemic loomed. I have longevity in my genes, and I want to leave Ontario a better place for my great-grandchildren.

My maternal grandmother, Isobel, lived to be about 90 years old and made us laugh all the time. My grandfather abandoned her and their seven children all under the age of 11. I come from a line of strong women.

I followed in my father’s footsteps as a CPA chartered accountant, but in my mother’s in being a mom to my kids. I worked hard as a woman and working mom to have a fulfilling career and to make our house a loving home. I hope I have succeeded at both most of the time and that my kids forgive me for the times I didn’t.

My mother led the charge to save our local London public school from being shut down, and it’s still open today. My father served on numerous volunteer boards throughout his long career. He retired at age 75, after which I promptly enlisted him to be my campaign CFO.

My grandparents and parents were all great role models, and are still today, for living a life of service, for lifelong learning, working hard and using one’s talents to make a difference and reach your full potential. I want to support our public institutions so that all Ontarians can do that too.

As a young kid of 10 or 11, I delivered the Globe and Mail in the early mornings and have loved reading it ever since. I built on that interest and became a CPA and later a banker, which gave me a wide range of opportunity, from conducting an audit at Darlington nuclear station to working in finance in Canada, the US, the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia. During my professional life, I worked hard to accomplish my career goals while living out my personal values by volunteering with great organizations like the Kidney Foundation and co-founding a women’s network more than 20 years ago. I continue to be involved in supporting women today.

In 2017, life dealt my family and me a very severe blow: My youngest brother, Dr. Dennis Bowman, died suddenly at the age of 39. Dennis was a physician, an anesthetist, an outdoorsman and a minimalist. One of the things we had in common was the pursuit of efficiency, in time, money and resources. Dennis loved his work but would also share stories about the opportunities he observed in the health care system, and we would talk about how things could be better.

In the months that followed Dennis’s death, I thought about family, my career and what was next. I wanted to use my skills of leadership, financial expertise and implementing major change to make a more meaningful impact and contribution of service in advancing women, education, economic prosperity and diversity and inclusion. I was fortunate to be appointed to the board of the Bank of Canada. It was a wonderful opportunity for someone like me, who has a keen interest in our economy. Policy really matters, and policy-makers have an enormous impact on our lives.

Being at the bank, I got to see first-hand how interesting the work of policy-makers is, and I began to think about how I could contribute to that work in a more meaningful way. Strong policy, community service, working together for a common cause—that is what we are all here to do.

I want to focus on what I can give back to my community of Don Valley West and this great province. I bring to this experience the things I’ve learned when helping lead businesses and organizations, and that includes the belief that we can provide better opportunities for more people when we work together, when we are inclusive.

The residents of Don Valley West work together to support those in need and to shape the future of their neighborhoods. They have spoken about the need for more home care for seniors, affordable housing, and about the surprise announcement of the Metrolinx maintenance and storage facility in Thorncliffe Park, one of the most densely populated parts of Toronto.

Many of my constituents were disappointed with the government’s cancellation of the Midtown in Focus plan, which was created with input from municipal and community stakeholders and approved by a democratically elected city council. This plan would have balanced the needs of a growing population with the services that that growth demands. Instead, residents feel that they are losing their voice, and it’s up to us to make sure that they are engaged in how their communities grow.

There are smart, capable people in every party, and therefore there are innovative ideas in every party. Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney brought Canada NAFTA. The CCF brought universal health care. These were both good for Canada.

I am a Liberal because progressive policies help Ontarians thrive, and when people thrive, businesses thrive and the economy thrives. I ran in Don Valley West as a fiscally minded Liberal who believes that we can invest money wisely to lift our public institutions so they lift people up. Progressive policies do just that.

Policies like subsidized child care not only lower costs for families, they bring more women into the workforce, alleviating the worker shortage, promoting economic growth and helping address inequality. More diverse boards result in better business outcomes. Policy that would drive more diversity on boards would improve equality and grow our economy. According to McKinsey, taking steps to decrease gender inequality in the workplace may benefit Canada’s economy by as much as $150 billion. That’s like adding a whole new financial services sector to our economy. Progressive liberal policy, progressive policy, is fiscally responsible.

I want to acknowledge, having just mentioned several policies that would advance women, that, along with the other 46 women MPPs in this 43rd Parliament, there have only been 162 women elected here in Ontario, of 1,968 parliamentarians in total. Mr. Speaker, there is more work to do to ensure women’s voices, diverse voices, are heard here at Queen’s Park and outside these walls.

I will conclude with a story of my first time at Queen’s Park. It was June 18, 1990. Thousands of people, including me, left their offices to see Nelson Mandela, just four short months after he was released from prison. To hear his words and see his spirit of hope after what he had endured was so inspiring. With a majority of seats, this government does not need the support from those of us with other political stripes to pass their bills, but I urge the Premier and his ministers to think not only in terms of seats but in terms of people—all people of this province, who are represented also by those of us in opposition. I urge him to consider the words of Mandela, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.

I appreciate the question from the member from Humber River–Black Creek. This is actually something I’ve been able to apply throughout my career. I haven’t always practised as an engineer. Within the city of Windsor, I’ve worked in the mayor’s office or in the CO’s office. I’ve done traffic. I’ve done land development.

So at the end of the day, what’s of value is the problem-solving skills. You are given a set of constraints and you figure out a solution that fits within those constraints. You don’t use ideology; you look at, on balance, what is best. There’s never really a perfect solution, but you evaluate the options, and ultimately when we debate policy, that is entirely what we’re doing in this House. We consider the options, we consider the consequences and we cast a vote based on our feeling of what’s the best balance. That is the approach that I’ve always engaged in, and I’m looking forward to applying it.

This government’s commitment to redeveloping and developing the new regional acute care hospital on County Road 42 was a game-changer, and it’s why I’m here today. I have to see that come to fruition for the betterment of our community. I’m delighted that the government supports that direction.

Question?

Thank you, member for Don Valley West, for your fascinating story.

I’m going to ask you a lighter question than that. You met Gordon Lightfoot, an iconic Canadian legend. I’m sure we all can start with, I don’t know, Sundown, the railway trilogy, Edmund Fitzgerald—so fantastic and such a fascinating Canadian. Can you tell us about that experience, meeting him?

Davenport.

I want to thank the member from Don Valley West for those comments. It was really a pleasure to hear more about your own personal history and to be introduced to some of your family and supporters. I know how much it means. I remember back not that many years ago, four years ago, to my inaugural address and how much it meant to have those people who I care for around me.

You’ve had such interesting experience in life and professionally, and I wondered if you wouldn’t mind reflecting on what these last few weeks have been like for you. Was this what you expected? What would you like to see change? What are you hoping to achieve here in this chamber over the next few years?

Thank you for your comments. It’s certainly clear from hearing your words that your brother meant a lot to you. That loss and your reflection on it is obviously playing into your decision to be here today.

My favourite author, Terry Pratchett, said that no one is truly gone until the ripples they left in the world die away. I would certainly appreciate it if you were able to tell us a little more about your experiences or memories of your brother and immortalize his name in the Hansard for us.

Questions? It’s time for questions.

Member from—

Thank you for the question. Yes, it is something I’m very passionate about. I think that sometimes women have to be asked to do things. There are a lot of things that we do every day as mothers, as working mothers in terms of our children and our careers. But sometimes we need to be asked, because they might be reticent to take on a new challenge. There’s lots of research that says women often think they are underqualified for something and therefore don’t go seek that opportunity—so I think encouraging women.

I recall being asked to join a finance committee of an organization when I was quite young. I would not have put myself forward for that, but they approached me and asked, and that began a lifelong commitment to the Kidney Foundation of Canada. I think more of that is required.

I look at my mother; I told you a little bit about my mother. My mother went back to school later in life to get her nursing degree. My daughter has just graduated with two undergraduate degrees, engineering and business, and my son also, who’s here, I’m very proud of, is just going into his fourth year at TMU in media production. And I think that just by showing up—we need to show up. And women need to be, as I said, encouraged to show up and encouraged to use their strengths and talents, and to ask other young women and young people to get involved in their campaigns and other political activities, because it is a great experience.

I want to congratulate the member from Don Valley West on her election, and thank her for sharing her stories, for the beautiful inaugural speech.

I know that you shared about your family, who is here today—welcome to the House—as well as you shared about your volunteers and the contributions that they have made. We have some of our volunteers from Scarborough here today as well, and I know that they’re the pillars of a campaign, of a movement that you create. Regardless of party line, they really inspire you. You also talked about diversity and the first time you came to Queen’s Park, seeing Nelson Mandela.

I guess my question would be, in terms of the ratio that that you told us about the amount of women that we have, I feel like an imposter sometimes. When I walk through the doors here—it’s been almost five years now—I still feel that at times. What are some of the things that you want to do to inspire more women to run for public office, and some of the things you want to do for diversity?

You know, it’s been really pleasant in here this afternoon. It was wonderful to listen to the inaugural speeches from the member from Don Valley West and the member from Windsor–Tecumseh, and I appreciate the tone of cordiality and collegiality in the House this afternoon. In keeping with that, I’m going to use a tone and I’m going to make a plea, particularly to the government members but to all of the MPPs in this House, and I’m going to ask you to support a call to double ODSP rates.

In keeping with the throne speech, the speech from the throne is entitled “Together, Let’s Build Ontario.” It says, on the second page, “Because now is the time for unity.

“A unity of people. A unity of purpose.”

That has to include Ontarians with disabilities. And this is an issue that I feel very strongly about, in part because of the education I’ve received over the last two and a half years during the pandemic. A friend and I started a food program; it now feeds 1,500 people a week. So almost every week for the last two and a half years, I’ve been delivering meals to people experiencing homelessness, and I’ve gotten to know many, and I’ve also known many who have died. This is the challenge with our ODSP rates. Our ODSP rates are literally killing people in Ontario.

CTV reported a few months ago about a woman named Denise. She’s 31 years old, she uses a wheelchair and has multiple chemical sensitivities. She applied for MAID, which is medical assistance in dying, essentially because of “abject poverty.” She cannot afford a wheelchair-accessible apartment with cleaner air that is safe for her illness. And they had also reported on another woman named Sophia, who also had a disability, and she opted for medically assisted death last February because she could not find housing that could accommodate her disability.

Earlier this week, my colleague from Ottawa West–Nepean spoke about two other people, Ontarians with disabilities, who are choosing medical assistance in dying because they cannot afford adequate housing; they cannot afford to live with their disability with the current ODSP rates. And last week, I had a conversation with a gentleman who is also in that process of applying for MAID because he cannot afford it. So the ODSP rates are literally driving people to seek to die because they cannot survive on the $1,169 a month.

And it’s not just this medical assistance in dying. ODSP rates are also driving people into homelessness, and the number of people who are homeless is increasing. It’s growing. It’s doubled over the last four years.

The Center for Justice and Social Compassion estimates that almost half of the Ontarians who are homeless have a disability, either a physical disability, an intellectual disability, a mental illness or an addiction. Based on my experience of delivering meals to people, I would say that’s probably accurate: About half of the people who are chronically homeless have a disability of some type. Toronto Public Health keeps track of the numbers. In 2018, 94 people died who were experiencing homelessness in the city of Toronto. I couldn’t find Ontario-wide numbers, but in the city of Toronto, it was 94. In 2021, it was 216. So in the term of office that we were here—this government was here between 2018 and last year—the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city of Toronto more than doubled. That’s a legacy of this House, of the decisions that are made here, and we have a chance to change that.

The challenge is that, relative to inflation, ODSP rates are 30% lower than they were 30 years ago. I’ll talk a little bit about Ontario Works recipients, as well. They are suffering even more. Their rate is $733 a month. People in Ontario are supposed to somehow survive on $733 a month. It just can’t be done. There’s no way. You cannot rent a room for $700 in Ontario anymore. We need to drastically increase this.

For Ontario Works and ODSP, the amount is calculated based on two calculations. One is for shelter and the other is for basic needs. The shelter amount for Ontario Works is $413 a month. So we give people on Ontario Works $413 a month and that’s supposed to find them shelter. We give people on ODSP $497 a month and they’re supposed to find shelter. It just can’t be done. Even with the increase—and I know the government’s promised to increase ODSP rates by 5%. That will bring it to $522 a month. You cannot—I’ve looked and I’ve been talking with people—rent a room anywhere in Ontario for $522 a month. So that increase is going to leave people on ODSP and Ontarians with disabilities continuing to be homeless.

That’s something we can change, and we can change it now. Part of the reason I’m bringing this up because the budget bill actually has that increase in ODSP of 5%, and we can change that. We can ask for a doubling of that ODSP.

The other thing about the 5% that should be pointed out is that it’s in addition to a 1.5% increase that this government made in 2018. So that’s a total of 6.5% increase over the last four years. Inflation over the last four years is 12%, so it’s actually a 5.5% cut by this government to ODSP over the last four years. People were living in destitution four years ago, Ontarians with disabilities were living in destitution—it’s even gotten worse. And this is why people are seeking medical assistance in dying. This is why so many people are homeless and why so many people who are homeless are also dying. So it’s something that can be changed.

I’ve been looking for how do we actually calculate this and what the rate should be. Statistics Canada calculates the very fundamental basic housing unit as a shared two-bedroom apartment. So how much is half of a two-bedroom apartment? The average cost in major cities in Ontario is $2,236 a month. That’s what Statistics Canada says. Half of that is $1,118 a month. That’s what Statistics Canada says is the minimum residence allowance that people need—not for a fancy apartment, not for anything fancy; just to share a two-bedroom apartment. The $497 that’s currently allocated and the $522 that it’s going to increase to—it’s less than half of what people actually need in order to have a place to live.

I’ll give you an example of a gentleman I met, Darrel MacDonald. He has got a disability. He currently lives in a one-bedroom basement apartment, and it costs $1,250 a month. He rents out the living room to another person, so he’s sharing a one-bedroom basement apartment. The landlord is selling the building, so he’s looking for a new place. He knows he’s going to have to move. He’s been phoning around. He lives in Toronto currently. He phoned Niagara, because he saw a room advertised for $500 a month. He phones the guy and when he’s talking to the landlord, it turns out it’s not $500 a month for the room; it’s $500 a month for half of the room and you share it with somebody else. You cannot find a room in the province of Ontario for the $522 that we’re going to be voting on, that this government is going to be voting on to allow for people with disabilities. We absolutely have a moral obligation to make that change.

The other portion of Ontario Works and ODSP: There’s the residence amount and then there’s the basic needs amount. In 1995, Ontario Works was cut by a Conservative government by 21.6%. The minister at the time, David Tsubouchi, argued that people could survive on the welfare diet. The welfare diet consisted of dented cans of tuna and pasta with no sauce or salt or other condiments. The welfare diet wasn’t healthy and it wasn’t really affordable. But since then, the cost of food has increased by 100%, and the basic needs amount of Ontario Works has increased by only 41%. So people today who are on Ontario Works or ODSP cannot even afford half of the welfare diet that was not a healthy diet 25 years ago.

This is why I’m making this argument, that we need to—I will just make a little aside here. Before becoming an MPP, I was a trustee in the Toronto District School Board. There were 22 of us representing all parts of the city. Most of us were party-aligned but not strictly party-aligned, because we didn’t have to be, and some people were not party-aligned. At our monthly meetings, we would have 15 votes or maybe 20 votes. Every vote was a different configuration of voters, because we were all voting according to what we thought would be best for the students in the city of Toronto. I lost some votes that were important to me, but I would say, overall, we actually did the best that we could for the students in the city of Toronto.

I would love to see that kind of collegiality, that kind of co-operation in this House. I would love to see us actually get together and say, “Hey, people with disabilities are going to be a priority over the next four years,” not just for the government side but for all of us in this House, the 124 members in this House, that we are going to make them a priority and we’re going to double ODSP rates because we don’t want people choosing to die because they can’t survive on ODSP rates. We don’t want people driven into homelessness because they can’t survive on ODSP rates.

I’m going back to Statistics Canada: The current amount for basic needs for ODSP is $672 a month. The basic needs amount that Statistics Canada calculates is $1,200 a month. When you add that up, Statistics Canada is saying that if you want to rent one bedroom in a two-bedroom apartment, you need $1,118. If you want to have enough money for food, transportation and clothing and other basic needs, you need $1,200 a month. Statistics Canada says the bare minimum that somebody can survive on in the province of Ontario is $2,300 a month. That’s why I’m calling for this doubling of ODSP.

Let me give you one other example, too. Andrea Hatalal is a person in Ontario with a disability. She’s a passionate advocate for people with disabilities. She lives in an apartment. She gets her $1,167 and she gets a $250 nutrition supplement. Her rent is $1,100 a month, so that gives her $300 a month to survive on. She survives by using food banks. Any time there’s a free meal anywhere—that’s how she survives. That’s how she gets the food that she needs, and she’s constantly struggling. It’s not just her. She’s actually one of the ones who’s housed. At least she has housing. Some 8,000 Ontarians with disabilities don’t even have housing.

I’ll give you one other example. A gentleman I met a couple of months ago, Pat Gallagher, used to be a roofer. He was a roofer for 25 years and he’s given me permission to share his story. He fell off a roof and was badly injured. He was prescribed OxyContin to manage the pain. He developed an addiction. He hasn’t been able to overcome the addiction. He’s wanting to go into detox, but he can’t get into a detox bed. So he’s been homeless for the last three years. Last February, while he was homeless, his feet were badly frostbitten and his toes were amputated. He had hope of going back to the roofing business, overcoming his addiction, getting his life together and going back into the roofing business. I don’t know that he can without the portions of his feet that were amputated.

The thing I’ve learned in delivering meals to people experiencing homelessness is that homelessness is a constant series of crises. It just keeps compounding the problems. I went to one encampment to deliver meals last winter, and in the one area where I was delivering, there was a couple whose tent had burned down and it destroyed everything. Thank God they were okay. Another gentleman—and this is a different gentleman—had been taken to the hospital because he had suffered frostbite. The other gentleman had had an overdose and was in the hospital. Homelessness is an absolute nightmare for the people experiencing it. It’s also terrible for the communities because in the communities we do not have the resources to provide people with what they need. What they really need is housing. In order to get housing, we need to double Ontario Works and we need to double ODSP.

I made the Statistics Canada argument for doubling ODSP. There are two other government agencies that also argue that the basic amount that people need to survive in this province is well over $2,000. CERB was set at $2,000, and CERB was set to provide people enough to get by through the pandemic.

There’s one other calculation, and this is from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. This is a federal agency—some of you are nodding, because you know—and it implements the bankruptcy and insolvency rate. They had a table: When a person goes bankrupt, they are allowed to keep a certain portion of their income in order to survive while they start to pay off their debt. Beyond that, they start to pay off their debt. That basic amount that they calculate at the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy is $2,355 a month. That’s what they figure is the basic amount that people need in order to survive, so that they can start paying off their debt. And then, when they make more than that amount, a portion of it goes back to paying off the debt.

The design of the system is to be restorative rather than punitive. Somebody has gone bankrupt, and the idea is to help them get out of bankruptcy, pay off their debts and get back on with their lives. I would argue that the system that we have—the Ontario Works and ODSP systems that we have in Ontario—are actually punitive rather than restorative, because when you are trying to tell somebody that you have to survive on $732 a month or $1,169 a month, that’s punitive. You are telling them, “You’re going to be living in a constant state of crisis, just trying to find a place to live, some place to rest your head at night and enough food that your stomach isn’t constantly hungry.”

Ontarians with disabilities are going to continue to struggle and they’re going to continue to die until we actually increase Ontario Works and ODSP rates to a rate that will actually allow people to get on with their lives, to live decent lives, to have shelter, to have the food, clothing and transportation that they need to live and get on with their lives, so that they can actually restore some of their lives.

I’m almost out of time, but the member from Don Valley West was talking about a life of service, and all of us here are serving our communities. We all have a dedication to service in some way. I think we all are also thinking about the legacy that we’re going to leave behind here. I would really love the legacy of this Parliament to be the doubling of ODSP rates and OW rates, so that we don’t have people living in absolute destitution and in a constant state of crisis. It is possible.

I know that’s not the government’s direction right now, but especially the caucus members from the Conservative Party, you, in caucus, have a voice. You have an opportunity. You can speak up in your caucus and say, “Look, we have a moral obligation as Ontarians to support Ontarians with disabilities by doubling ODSP rates,” and I’d ask that you do that. That’s my plea to you, because I don’t want to continue seeing people dying all the time on the streets in this province, and it’s something this Legislature has the power to fix. So that’s my plea to you.

Question?

I want to thank the member for her great, great speech. I was looking over her biography, and I noticed she did a lot of great volunteer work, especially through women’s organizations. As she knows, we’re all so very ambitious to try to get more women into the workforce, to try to break down some of those barriers. So I wanted to ask her, with her great experience on many of those volunteer organizations and boards, what she’s learned with that and how she wishes to progress those types of ideas and policies here.

I want to thank the member for Spadina–Fort York for your comments. I really appreciate that you took this opportunity to speak specifically about ODSP and OW and the doubling of ODSP rates. And I want to thank you for taking me out with you on food deliveries during the pandemic. Actually, I’m sure you would be pleased to have others join you at some point. I think we met some of the folks that you mentioned.

But I wanted to mention one other thing: My experience in working with people in my community who are on ODSP is that the other piece of this is that ODSP is punitive, as you pointed out, but also how often ODSP is clawed back and, in many cases, quite arbitrarily, and how often people who are on ODSP have to fight and fight and fight, and how few of the case workers can stick around for more than a year because they can’t handle the pressure and how depressing it is to be constantly clawing back on people’s already meagre payments.

I wonder if the member would care to comment on that and also whether this 5% really—what that’s actually going to look like in terms of impact on the lives of the people he was mentioning.

Thank you to the member from Spadina–Fort York for your passionate speech. I know you always stand up for the marginalized and vulnerable people in your community and the province. You talked about food programs—you started a food program for needy people in the areas in your riding, and also you were talking about ODSP. I know you bring a different perspective to this House.

My question, through you, Madam Speaker, to the member: Could you please elaborate on your food program? You’re known as a food man in your area. Please elaborate on that program for the benefit of this House.

Questions and answers?

I thank the member opposite for his considered remarks and for his significant work in the community. I know you asked a question to me this morning about homelessness.

I wanted to ask you, though—and as you’ve heard on the issue of ODSP, firstly, the increase that has been proposed is very important, and linking it to inflation as well is very important. But as the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services has also offered, there are many other programs that I understand typically are offered to, potentially, ODSP recipients as well.

My question to the member is: Is that your experience? Because as we as a government look at this, we can’t only look at one program in isolation, but look at all the other programs combined. I’m curious to hear your thoughts, member.