I thank the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound for your comments. I will agree with you on one thing: It is a beautiful area that you represent. I’ve got a friend in Oliphant and I drive through that area many, many times. It’s an absolutely gorgeous area.

Look, I’m going to use my question as an opportunity to make a personal plea to you. One of the issues that I’m most concerned about in my riding and across this province is homelessness. Homelessness is not just in downtown Toronto; it is across this province. I was just reading a report from Grey Bruce public health. They interviewed 77 residents who are experiencing homelessness: 38% of those have a physical disability, 67% have a mental illness.

One of the issues that we are facing is that ODSP rates do not provide enough funding for housing, so half of the people, the 16,000 people in this province who are experiencing homelessness, have either a physical or an intellectual disability or mental illness. And so the government’s proposing to increase ODSP rates by 5%, which would increase the housing allowance from $497 to $520. That’s not going to provide housing. People are going to be—

I thank the member for the question, and I share your views and concerns about homelessness. We do see it in our riding, whether it’s Owen Sound, Hanover, there are pockets of homelessness. I know it’s being worked on well—in fact, two responses that have been very significant. One, there was a huge investment through Grey Bruce Health Services of about $6 million recently for increased mental health support and facilities at the Owen Sound hospital, so we sure look towards using those resources to help.

And on ODSP, I understand the views. I would say, the increase of 5% is significant and linking it to inflation, but also, so many other programs apply that support those in need. But we share the concern with you about homelessness.

Look, on housing, we share the view that more needs to be done. We see that. Listen, I know it personally. I’ve got three sons who are looking for spots for sale. We know it directly. That’s why I’m so pleased about the work that our government is doing and the commitment to build 150,000 new homes a year. And 100,000, the highest in 30 years, have been built already this past year.

I want to work to get it done. This is one of the important outcomes of government I talked about. I look forward to working with members in the House and our members in our local community in Grey county and getting it done. Thank you for your question. I agree with your approach.

What you’ve got from our side is a very tangible plan for huge investment in health care facilities over the next decade, long-term care and on and on. I understand the significant support that has been delivered through the health care system in the last several years: over 10,000 new health care workers hired since March 2020 and other supports that have been given.

I know I’m aware of the questions in the community. I have heard them. We’ll work to make sure there are proper resources to support our patients and health care systems in the province and in my riding.

I will mention the South East Grey Community Health Centre, because it’s a great point that you’ve mentioned. Here is a community health centre that is staffed significantly by nurse practitioners and some visiting doctors, which provides fantastic care in the community. I love that model. One of the things that I want to get done is that they’re looking to build a new facility in Dundalk—of course, the source of the famous bee-swallowing incident recently. We want to get a new facility for the South East Grey Community Health Centre down there and get it done to continue to expand health care services in our community.

I think it’s very practical, and as you said, it’s not just health care, all sorts of community programs apply. It’s an important part of our primary care model, and I think that’s the other element that we’ve been talking a lot about: hospitals, but our primary care infrastructure. It’s also important that we build out and coordinate and support other elements of health care, so I look forward to supporting the community health centre model.

I’m standing up today to shout out a great organization hard at work in my riding of Kitchener South–Hespeler: Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. Their mandate is to support women and children in moving beyond abuse through outreach services, education and safe shelter.

Last Friday, I got a tour of their newest project, Aspen Place. Aspen Place is a residential building, a triplex that the organization was able to buy outright back in May. It will provide transitional housing for up to a year for women and children fleeing abuse. The building was purchased largely through community support, but our local ReStore, Home Hardware and Activa homes were especially generous.

Aspen Place is meant to feel like a home, not a shelter, and I was so touched and impressed by the dedication of the crisis services staff to making that goal a reality. When I was there, I met Faune and Ashley, who were both absolutely covered in sawdust and paint and hard at work cutting down cabinets to build toy storage.

Jen Hutton is the CEO, and we had a great conversation about how financial dependence binds women to abusive partners. I got the chance to share some of the amazing retraining and skills upgrading initiatives developed by our very own Monte McNaughton. Jen and I are excited to meet again soon and talk about how our government is continuing to empower women to achieve financial independence through new employment opportunities.

Today is the official ribbon-cutting for Aspen Place. I can’t be there in person, but I’m there in spirit. Great work, ladies. I appreciate all that you do.

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.