I want to congratulate the member from Toronto Centre on her election to the province’s Legislative Assembly. I’ve known the member for quite some time, and I know how passionate she is in representing the people in her community.

Speaker, I want to ask the member, in her review—and it seems as if she did quite a thorough review, bringing her knowledge and experience from city hall to this Legislature.

In the $198-billion budget that was just tabled, could you tell me what you believe ought to have been the priority of the government and what you see is missing from this budget?

Today, we’re debating Bill 2. The province’s budget bill ought to be a road map for the people of Ontario, to show them what the government’s vision, plans and priorities are for their well-being, and yet, in the midst of an affordability crisis that has been steadily worsening, with health care staffing shortages that are literally closing down hospitals, closing emergency rooms, at a time when Ontarians are looking to Queen’s Park, their Legislature, for leadership, it has fallen well short. We have no road map to guide these uncertain times.

The budget failed to provide the support that is desperately needed by so many people, and in this way, it has offered no solutions to the problems that threaten not only the present but also the very future of this province. Imagine a budget that does not mention the climate crisis. How could that be possible?

With its heavy focus on infrastructure projects, this budget sent a clear message—even just on the cover of the budget, with the smoggy highway—to the increasing number of Ontarians lining up at food banks to eat; it sent a clear message to the growing number of residents unable to afford their rent; and it sent a clear message to the province’s most vulnerable, trying to navigate skyrocketing inflation while living on ODSP.

The Premier and the finance minister are either unable to see or they are unwilling to acknowledge that Ontarians need more support. Either way, it simply is unacceptable to prioritize things like roads and highways over people. Instead of working to improve circumstances for the people with their annual budget, the Ford government made a choice to double down on an approach to governing that refuses to allocate support to the alarming number of Ontarians who continue to struggle for the very necessities of life.

Speaker, in re-tabling their pre-election budget, virtually unchanged, while the situation around them has completely shifted, the Ford government showed Ontarians that despite changing circumstances in the form of rising inflation and a deepening crisis of affordability sweeping across the province, they have priorities that do not include taking action that is needed right now to address soaring rents and skyrocketing inflation.

More than 500,000 people, individuals and families in Ontario count on ODSP for part or even all of their income. Many of them live in my riding, in Scarborough–Guildwood. A 5% rate increase is not nearly enough for our province’s most vulnerable people to survive on. Even when asked—to the finance minister—if he could live on $1,169 a month, the minister’s response, admittedly, was that it is merely a step in the right direction. But this is wrong; this isn’t even a baby step.

In my own riding of Scarborough–Guildwood, my staff receive so many troubling calls from residents, including emails from distressed residents who are wondering when more help is coming and asking why the government has not just provided those supports that are needed right now in the face of the rising cost of living. There is so much urgency to do that. When the government is projecting higher-than-expected revenues driven by this very inflation, and when the budget that they just re-tabled features $7.2 billion in underspending, including in our troubled health care system, these are very difficult conversations to have with Ontarians who, quite justifiably, find the government’s accounting difficult to reconcile.

The bottom line here is a shameful one. By prioritizing themselves, the Premier and his government failed to get it done for the province’s most vulnerable, while effectively abandoning Ontarians they are duty bound to support.

Speaker, we already know the PC government’s and this government’s history when it comes to supporting public education and education workers. Even prior to the pandemic, thousands of education workers were standing right outside of this House and circling Queen’s Park and rallying outside of schools to call out the government’s cuts to education. Unfortunately, since then, and even throughout the global pandemic, the government has demonstrated time and time again that the safety of children and education workers is not a top priority. In fact, privatization is more of a priority versus public education.

Two years of learning in a global pandemic has left many students struggling, while the full impact of the pandemic on student outcomes is still unknown, and we are just scratching the surface of this. One thing we do know is that a return to normalcy for Ontario’s world-class public education system is sorely needed right now. That means a proactive plan to return to in-person learning. After two years of disruption, what our students need the most is consistency, stability and a safe, in-person return to a well-funded public education system, not privatization.

Adoption of an ongoing hybrid model or expansion of online learning requirements is solely about cutting costs at a time when our children need more support, not less. We simply cannot exacerbate the issues caused by the pandemic when there are other pathways available. The government, in fact, needs to consult with education partners to set these priorities.

It also means a return to classrooms that aren’t overcrowded. If we’re going to close the learning gap that was created by COVID-19, our students need the focused, individual attention from teachers and education workers that can only come when we keep class sizes manageable. My students and parents, frankly, in Scarborough–Guildwood are asking for this support.

We also need to ensure that our students have access to the support services, the programs and the personnel that they need to succeed, and that means ensuring our schools not only have the appropriate number of educational assistants, speech-language pathologists, mental health professionals and other support workers needed to deliver those services, but also ensuring that those professionals are valued as vital contributors to our strong public education system.

I’m going to take a minute to say thank you. Thank you to our teachers. Thank you to our education workers. Thank you for all that you do on an individual basis, frankly, without the help and support from this government, on behalf of our students, even in the face of these challenging times.

Speaker, having school-board-employed support professionals immediately available within schools would help to ensure that our students get the help and the support they need.

I know that right now our students are crying out for help. I want to remind the Premier and the minister that it is still not too late to do the right thing and to table a plan for a safe return to in-person learning in our education system. School is not yet open. There is still time. We know that our students, right now, are suffering. There’s rising anxiety, mental health and other concerns that we’re hearing about. What is this government doing to support their learning and their well-being?

Speaker, I also want to say that it is an absolute shame what is happening in our health care system. It is particularly distressing that the Premier and his health minister refuse to take proactive action in addressing the staffing crisis that our health system is currently facing. Why are they dragging their feet when the needs are so clear? For months, hospitals have been closing emergency rooms—and yet re-tabling a budget that was drafted pre-election, without acknowledging this problem, is absolutely shameful. The government is failing to react to this crisis and actually letting the system fail. They are being called out by our front-line health care workers—our nurses, our emergency room doctors—and they need to respond. Scrapping Bill 124 should have happened long ago—and yet Bill 2 does not do that. In fact, the Premier and his health minister are doubling down on this health crisis that needs to be fixed right now.

I mentioned in my opening remarks that one of the failures in this budget is not even mentioning the term “climate crisis.” In fact, there was less than a paragraph on the environment in general. It’s as if it does not matter at all. But what about the future of this province? As I said, a budget needs to be a road map; it needs to be the government’s vision, telling Ontarians, the people of this province, where its priorities belong. And we know that it does not align at all with the needs that we have in the environment.

What about housing? The budget falls well short in recognizing that we are in a housing crisis and that people need help and support.

The people in my community, in Scarborough–Guildwood, are struggling. They are struggling with the rising costs of food, of rents and of basic needs.

This budget that we are debating today does not acknowledge the priorities and the needs of the most vulnerable people in Ontario, and it is a shame.