I’d like to recognize several special guests of mine from the great riding of Windsor–Tecumseh. In the west members’ gallery are my lovely and amazing wife, Mary; my mother, Mary Jo; my exceptional campaign manager and executive assistant, Paul Synnott; and my tremendous, hard-working constituency assistant, Rachel Haddad, who excels in helping people, day in and day out, those in need. Thank you so much for being here, to all my special guests, for their first visit and certainly not the last visit.

I am proud to rise today in this great place among my distinguished colleagues in this House.

First, Speaker, I wish you a sincere congratulations on your own re-election in this past campaign. I grew up learning quite a bit about you on CHCH television when I could tune in with my rabbit ears. It’s truly an honour and privilege to have the opportunity to serve side by side with you and all 124 members of this House who represent their communities.

I want to begin by taking this moment to wholeheartedly thank the voters of Windsor–Tecumseh. I am grateful to each person who gave me this privilege to serve them. The community told me that this is the government that, when it mattered, supported our community. The delivery of real, tangible results from this government stood out for my constituents.

Les actions de ce gouvernement sont transformatrices pour ma communauté. C’est ce gouvernement qui a fait possible l’avancement de l’hôpital régional de soins aigus de Windsor-Essex. C’est ce gouvernement qui termine enfin l’élargissement à quatre voies de l’autoroute 3 à travers Windsor et le comté d’Essex, un projet autrement suspendu depuis 2011. C’est ce gouvernement qui investit des centaines de millions de dollars en soutien financier pour la fabrication de pointe dans notre région, comme l’usine d’assemblage de batteries de véhicules électriques NextStar Energy, le Centre d’innovation pour les batteries Flex-Ion et le réoutillage de l’usine d’assemblage de Stellantis à Windsor.

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.

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.

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.

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.