In Tuesday’s throne speech, the government highlighted its desire to put in place the conditions that will lead to the construction of over a million homes.

We have seen that the lack of supply, along with the recent Bank of Canada interest rate hikes, are placing a strain on many young Ontario families looking to buy their first home—but it’s not just potential homebuyers; it’s also people looking for rental accommodation in an increasingly tough environment.

More often than not, delays caused by red tape, infighting at local councils or simply bad policy have stalled construction of housing, be it rental, non-profit, long-term-care or even someone wanting to buy a home.

Yesterday, the government tabled legislation that would supplement the powers of mayors in Toronto and Ottawa. Specifically, I want to know how these added authorities help move projects along.

Yesterday, I was pleased to announce that our government is introducing legislation that is intended to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa the ability to move forward provincial priorities, select municipal department heads and deliver budgets.

We know that municipal governments play a crucial role in determining housing supply. And the reality is that over one third of Ontario’s growth in the next 10 years will come in the cities of Toronto and Ottawa.

Too many families today are struggling with housing and the rising cost of living. We need to empower our local leaders with the tools that they need to get it done. We are also counting on them to cut red tape, to build housing faster so that more Ontarians can realize the dream of attainable home ownership.

Thank you for the question.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, the Toronto board of trade has said, “Toronto faces numerous urgent city-wide challenges, from housing, land use, transit, ... budget” and “economic development.... Effective, timely solutions require a city chief executive with clear authority.... Now is the time to act.”

Minister, we have a vibrant province. If our communities are to continue to thrive, people need to be able to stop dreaming of a home and know that they will have housing options—rental, non-profit, single detached, condo—choice and options, timely delivery as well, a clear path for residents and, more importantly, our municipal partners.

Does the minister agree with the board of trade, and does the legislation provide a realistic path to more homes, more choice and housing predictability in Toronto and Ottawa?

Between 2003 and 2018, the previous Liberal government allowed communities to develop webs of red tape, which led to frustration, disappointment and, ultimately, drastically reduced housing supply. Our municipal partners, both in Toronto and Ottawa, have been calling our government to help them reduce this red tape while working with them to increase the supply of a mixed range of housing.

It is abundantly clear to anyone that leadership at the provincial level is essential if we are to assist our municipal partners in reaching our goal of over a million new homes, as outlined in the speech from the throne.

As a Toronto member, I’m keenly aware of the challenges of lack of supply, but at the same time I am now more than ever looking for solutions that will have both immediate and lasting impacts.

Specifically, how will a strong-mayor system in Toronto help address housing supply?

Empowering strong mayors is a good start to addressing housing needs to help big cities like Toronto and Ottawa, but what is our government doing for the other municipalities across the province? Our government must work with other municipalities to ensure that housing development is a priority for all across this province.

Speaker, is the minister taking any other action to help municipal leaders to identify and resolve problems that stand in the way of building more homes and building them now?

I want to thank the member for the question and congratulate him on his election to the people’s House.

Ontarians are facing the rising cost of living and certainly a shortage of homes. Our government was re-elected with a strong mandate to help more Ontarians find more homes that meet their needs and their budgets.

We all know that Ontario accounts for two thirds of the population growth in Canada. That’s why, under our ambitious plan, our government will build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years to keep costs down and make life more affordable for all Ontarians. We’re also speeding up the approval process while implementing recommendations from the Housing Affordability Task Force. The steps that our government is taking are working. Over 100,000 homes have been built in 2021—and more than 13,000 new rental starts here in the province of Ontario; that’s the highest in over 30 years.

Speaker, next week I’m heading over to AMO in Ottawa to be able to continue collaboration with our municipal governments.

Our government’s policies have delivered historic results in getting more housing built faster, and they certainly complement our more than $4.3-billion investments over three years to grow and enhance community and supportive housing for vulnerable Ontarians and Indigenous peoples, address homelessness and respond to COVID-19.

The More Homes for Everyone plan, launched in March 2022, outlines the next steps we’re taking to address Ontario’s housing crisis, such as accelerating approval timelines and protecting homebuyers from unethical business practices. For example, changes were made to provide an incentive for municipalities to make decisions in a timely manner on zoning and site plan applications. Effective January 1, 2023, if a municipality does not make a decision within the legislated timeline, they would be required to gradually refund the application fee to the applicant. Municipalities could avoid lost revenues by improving processes to support timely decisions.

We remain steadfast—

Just recently, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. released a very worrying report. In it, they say that in order to reach housing affordability nationally by the year 2030, governments across Canada will need to take action and up to 3.5 million more homes will need to be built. The report further states that, “Increasing supply will be difficult. Critically, increasing supply takes time because the time to construct is significant, but so is the time to progress through government approval processes. This delay means that we must act today to achieve affordability by 2030.”

Many of my younger constituents are concerned about the prospect of home ownership in the future.

Can the Associate Minister of Housing please explain what the government is doing to build more homes, as the CMHC report called for?

Can the associate minister please outline the immediate action that this government will focus on to restore and safeguard housing affordability in our province?

I would love to, Speaker. Thanks so much.

It is a real pleasure and a privilege to rise for second reading of our government’s proposed Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act. I want to, right off the top, say that I’ll be sharing the government’s time with the Associate Minister of Housing and the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. So the three of us will share the government’s time.

Speaker, Ontarians re-elected our government at a time when they are facing rising living costs and a shortage of housing. They sent us back to work with a strong mandate, because we promised to get more housing built faster. We know that Ontario is in the middle of a housing supply crisis; people are desperately looking for housing that meets their needs and their budget. Yet today in Ontario, Speaker, too many families are frozen out of the housing market. Young people are searching for their first home, a home where they’ll have room to have children and grow their family, while still being close to work, schools and essential services. Seniors are thinking about downsizing and want homes that meet their needs as they age, without having to move far away from the people and the places that they love.

Everyone is looking for something different, and we knew we needed clear support to get the right policies in place to build more homes faster.

Nous savions que nous avions besoin d’aide pour adopter les bonnes politiques afin de bâtir plus d’habitations plus rapidement.

Our government created the Housing Affordability Task Force of industry leaders and exports to recommend additional measures to increase the supply of market housing to address the housing crisis, and that task force stated in their introductory letter of their report—I’m going to paraphrase it for members now, Speaker:

“For many years, the province has not built enough housing to meet the needs of our growing population....

“Efforts to cool the housing market have only provided temporary relief to homebuyers. The long-term trend is clear: house prices are increasing much faster than Ontarian’s incomes. The time for action is now.”

Speaker, the task force also pointed out, after meeting with a variety of housing sector partners, that they heard solutions that fit into five themes:

(1) increasing density across the province;

(2) ending exclusionary municipal rules that block or delay new housing;

(3) depoliticizing the housing approvals process;

(4) preventing abuse of the housing appeals system; and

(5) financial support to municipalities to build more housing.

I want all members of the House to keep the second and the third recommendations in mind. Those are ending exclusionary municipal rules and depoliticizing the housing approvals process.

Speaker, our government’s target is to build 1.5 million homes in the next 10 years. We have and we will continue to explore ways to help municipalities get more homes built faster. As the task force pointed out, there’s a bottleneck when it comes to getting shovels in the ground for new home construction. Development approvals and appropriate zoning are often delayed or, in some cases, hindered because of opposition from some members on local municipal councils. Some projects are even abandoned. Even if the project finally gets a go-ahead, a tremendous amount of damage is done.

The C.D. Howe Institute found restrictions and extra costs on building new housing are dramatically increasing the price of housing developments. These restrictions include delays on projects and also permitting approvals. The institute found, Speaker—you really have to listen to this, because this is staggering—that these barriers add approximately $168,000 or 22% to the average cost of a single detached home in the city of Toronto. What’s more, Speaker, the Ontario Association of Architects concluded that for a 100-unit condominium building right here in Toronto, delayed approvals cost home builders almost $2,000 per unit per month—unbelievable. These are costs that are ultimately passed down to homeowners and to renters.

Delays are contributing to an unfortunate statistic that was highlighted recently by Rescon, Ontario’s leading association of residential builders. Rescon says that we are underproducing housing by about 12,000 units per year here in Ontario. I think we all agree: We need to do everything we can to help ensure that there is unimpeded construction of homes.

A good step, Speaker, would be for us to tackle the political logjam in getting approvals. As the Housing Affordability Task Force found in its consultations, stakeholders agree with us that ending exclusionary municipal rules and depoliticizing the housing approvals process are good first steps. This is an issue that transcends municipal ward boundaries, yet it can be at the ward level that the logjam begins. In fact, the cost of housing is the top issue for voters in the upcoming municipal elections this fall. People with well-paying jobs are unable to find housing in both urban city centres and communities across the province because of how quickly costs are rising.

In our electoral system, residents vote for the mayor of their lower-tier and single-tier municipality, in addition to their local councillor. They expect the mayor to look after the overall challenges their community faces, including the need for more housing. However, it’s often unrealistic for mayors to meet the demands under our current system. I want to quote the Premier. Our Premier has said mayors are “accountable for everything. But they have the same single vote as a single councillor.”

In Ontario, a mayor has got one vote on their municipal council, just like all other members. That means the mayor, who could be responsible for three million people, has just as much say on a local issue as one councillor. And yet, despite this, voters have an expectation: Voters expect their mayor to be responsible for all the major city projects and priorities. They’re counting on their mayor to get things done. They count on their mayor to find solutions important to them, including housing.

Today, I think we can agree: Priority projects simply take too long to get through municipal councils and through committees. To be truly effective for their communities, mayors need our support. They need to be empowered. That’s why, Speaker, I am so very proud that we’re leading off second-reading debate on the proposed Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act. The changes would, if passed, give the mayors of the cities of Toronto and Ottawa the ability to drive policy changes, select municipal department heads and bring forward budgets, and it would help our municipal partners deliver on our shared priorities, including housing.

Our government is keeping costs down, and we’re going to build 1.5 million homes to address the housing supply crisis. We know that empowered mayors can better help the province and municipalities work together on housing and other initiatives that are critically important to communities. It is something we need to keep in mind as we expect record growth in the province.

The population of our province of Ontario continues to grow. As it grows, housing has to keep up. I said this this morning: The reality is over one third of Ontario’s growth in the next decade is going to happen in Toronto and Ottawa. These cities have shown us that they’re shovel-ready. They’ve shown us that they’re committed to growth and committed to cutting red tape.

Now I’d like to take a few minutes before I pass the torch along to my colleagues. I’d like to explain specifically how our proposed changes would support growth in Toronto and Ottawa. Our bill proposes changes to the Municipal Act, the City of Toronto Act and other pieces of legislation that, if passed, the changes would provide the heads of council in the city of Toronto and the city of Ottawa with additional governance tools and increased powers to align municipal decision-making with provincial priorities. These increased executive powers would allow them to better organize city hall.

These mayors would be able to hire and fire the chief administrative officer, as well as other department heads. They would also be able to create and reorganize departments, and they would also have the authority to appoint chairs or vice-chairs for committees and for local boards identified in regulation, as well as establish committees. These mayors would also be able to forge a path on the council floor.

If passed, these changes would allow the mayors in both the cities of Ottawa and Toronto to direct provincial priority items for council consideration. This could also include directing staff to prepare proposals. We believe the proposed changes would maintain a solid municipal decision-making framework. Of course, there needs to be a system with checks and balances in place. Mayors would be able to support priority items, as well as their vision for their communities, through the ability to develop the municipality’s budget and then table it for council consideration.

Council would be able to propose amendments to the budget, subject to the mayor’s veto and the council’s override process. Mayors would also have the ability to veto bylaws passed by council in order to further a provincial priority. But as I mentioned, council would still have a role in amending the budget. They could override a mayor’s veto with a two-thirds majority vote.

We’re also proposing changes to the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act that would require a mayor to declare any financial conflicts related to the use of the new powers. The changes would also prevent a mayor from using the powers where they have a financial conflict.

Because of this increased authority that we’re proposing for the mayors, we also want to ensure that voters have their say if a mayor leaves office earlier than expected. That’s why we would require a by-election to replace a mayor with these increased powers if their office becomes vacant, rather than having the current choice of either a by-election or an appointment.

Speaker, we did not take the development of our proposals lightly. We’ve looked at other cities that provide mayors with executive powers. Cities like Chicago, London, Los Angeles and Paris all have a strong-mayor system that works. The mayors in these cities have strengthened roles and additional administrative and executive powers in developing budgets, and some have the opportunity to veto certain items.

These strong-mayor systems support the needs of their growing communities, just as it can support the needs of growing communities in Toronto and Ottawa. This is why we’re putting our trust in local leadership of these two cities, to give the mayors the responsibility to help deliver on our shared provincial-municipal priorities.

Our government believes that a strong-mayor system will help address the housing crisis. We’re not alone in our belief. I’d like to share a quote from the Toronto Region Board of Trade:

“Toronto faces numerous urgent city-wide challenges, from housing, land use, transit, transportation, budget, economic development and climate. Effective, timely solutions require a city chief executive with clear authority to set an agenda, appoint senior city staff, and bring forward policy solutions to council.”

The board goes on to say that for almost two decades, they have long advocated stronger powers for Toronto’s mayor. And they conclude, “Now is the time to act.” We’re moving quickly on this priority as we want to get our proposed changes in place in time for that council term which begins in mid-November.

Our government trusts Ontarians. The population is growing and housing needs to keep up. We’re looking at places that are shovel-ready, committed to growth, and cutting red tape.

Nous envisageons des localités qui sont prêtes pour les travaux, engagées envers la croissance et disposées à réduire les formalités administratives.

That’s why we’re putting our trust in local leadership by giving the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa more responsibility to develop on our shared provincial-municipal priorities, including our commitment to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years. The province and these two municipalities can work together to ensure housing is more attainable for the people of Ontario.

I’d be more than happy to send things over to my associate minister to continue the conversation. Thank you so much for listening.

Would the minister care to lead off the debate? I recognize the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

I’d like to thank, certainly, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for sharing his time with me today.

I’m very proud to rise in the House today as Ontario’s new Associate Minister of Housing to speak to a bill—

Interjections.

The rising cost of housing has had an impact on so many Ontarians. Families are being priced out of the market, seniors on fixed incomes worrying every month how they will be able to pay their mortgage, and too many members of our next generation feel they will never have a place of their own.

Every single day all of us show up to work here to make choices, tough choices, choices that aren’t always easy. Allow me to be crystal clear that this government will always choose the side of hard-working Ontarians. Today the government of Ontario is proposing legislation that will reinforce how committed we are in supporting our municipal partners to deliver on our shared priorities—priorities that matter to the people of Ontario; priorities such as our election promise to build 1.5 million new homes over the next 10 years.

Through this legislation, the government of Ontario will empower our municipal partners to get things done, because the people of Ontario expect nothing less. This includes helping to speed up new home constructions so that we can get more homes built quicker and make sure more families can realize the dream of home ownership. A house isn’t just four walls and a roof, it’s a home; a place for families to build their futures and make memories. Our government has the firm conviction that everyone deserves to have one of their own.

Since day one of being in power, our government has been laser-focused on tackling the province’s housing crisis. In 2019, we released our first housing supply action plan. It was called More Homes, More Choice and provided a road map to help address the housing challenges our province was facing at that time. It was a call to action on the need to build more homes to keep up with the rapidly growing population in Ontario. And it was effective. Since the plan was introduced, the province’s actions and close collaboration with municipalities have delivered results. Last year, in 2021, we saw more than 100,000 housing starts in Ontario, and that is the highest since 1987. Last year also saw more than 13,000 rental starts. Again, the most rental starts since 1991.

Despite our progress, we knew it wasn’t enough. Across the province, no matter where you went, one thing seemed to remain the same: Too many Ontarians were still finding the dream of having a place of their own out of reach. We recognized we needed to go further, so we began a three-part consultation with housing sector experts, municipalities and the public to help identify and implement real solutions to address the housing supply crisis.

First, we conducted an online public consultation through which we received more than 2,000 submissions. Second, we brought together municipalities and municipal associations to hear from leaders on the ground about what needed to be done for us to be able to build more homes. We conducted these consultations through the Ontario municipal housing summit and rural housing round table. The third part of government’s thorough consultation was the creation of the Housing Affordability Task Force.

The task force was made up of a diverse range of experts in non-profit housing, Indigenous housing, real estate, home builders, financial markets and municipal governments. We knew that for this task force to put forward the most fulsome recommendations it needed to include every voice and needed to represent all voices across the province.

Through their engagement with stakeholders, including municipalities and advocacy groups, they developed thought-provoking and detailed recommendations in their report. These recommendations ranged from proposed changes to the planning policies to ways to lower costs for development and to aligning efforts between all levels of government to incentivize building more housing.

Along with the dozens of recommendations provided by the task force, they again issued an urgent call to action. They told us that our province does not currently have enough housing to meet the needs of Ontarians, and that if we didn’t act we would not have enough housing to meet the needs of our growing population tomorrow. So we used the task force recommendations, along with other consultation feedback, to get to work and to take bold actions. We used the task force report as a foundation to craft a new housing supply action plan designed to make sure all Ontarians can find a home that meets their needs and their budgets.

We passed More Homes for Everyone, the next step to help boost housing supply in our province. The legislation laid out ways to get rid of the red tape and bureaucratic inefficiencies that are driving up the cost of homes, all while creating more housing options for renters and buyers. More Homes for Everyone delivers real solutions and addresses the province’s housing crisis.

It includes the new community infrastructure and housing accelerator, which is a tool that helps municipalities expedite approvals for housing and community infrastructure such as hospitals and community centres.

It also made changes to the site plan control decisions. Site plan control is a planning tool that municipalities use to manage development on a parcel of land. What we saw, Mr. Speaker, was that too often, politics was getting in the way of good planning. So we made sure that our plan requires local council to delegate site plan control decisions to municipal staff.

We also extended the timeline for municipalities to review the site plan applications before appeals can be launched, from 30 days to 60 days, to make sure municipalities have the time they need to review projects while preventing unnecessary delays.

In the interests of transparency, we now also require municipalities and development charge bylaw to make their annual reporting on these charges available to the public on the municipality’s website.

These are just some of the ways our comprehensive More Homes for Everyone plan is helping us to get shovels in the ground.

But we knew we couldn’t stop there. Housing affordability is one of the greatest challenges of our time and it must be treated as such. How we, as elected officials, choose to tackle this challenge over the coming years will determine whether an entire next generation will be able to own a home, start a family and build our communities to be even stronger. As a result, we must take bold, decisive action to address the housing shortage. We mustn’t be afraid to challenge the status quo, and we must work with every partner willing to help us get shovels in the ground.

We must deliver real, long-term solutions to ensure home ownership is in reach of all Ontarians. We’re going to use the Housing Affordability Task Force recommendation as a long-term road map to help us get there, a road map that will allow us to work with our partners to develop a new housing supply action plan each year over four years. This includes our municipal partners, each with unique circumstances on the ground and in their communities.

We believe taking a long-term integrated approach will give our municipal partners the time and flexibility they need to work with us to be able to achieve our ambitious goals, because solving the housing supply crisis is a long-term mission and it certainly won’t happen overnight. It requires long-term commitment, partnerships at all levels of government and a solid plan, all three of which will happen in spades.

As the minister outlined when speaking to today’s proposed legislation, Ontario is a growing province. It’s a place where good people of all backgrounds come to begin a new life. As Ontario grows, we must help communities across the province to grow as well. That includes building more attainable homes, because addressing the housing supply issues in our communities is a critical issue and we need to have success. The time for talk is over. The time for action, the time for cutting through red tape and the time for getting shovels in the ground and building the dream of home ownership is now.

To help us get there, we committed to establishing a housing supply action plan implementation team this summer. I’m honoured to stand here in this House and give you the details of this team. The team will be a formal advisory body made up of a volunteer chair and up to eight other members representing key sectors. The team will provide expert advice to the government on implementing and recommendations on the Housing Affordability Task Force. They will help us take decisive action to get more homes built and they will make ongoing improvement to our annual housing supply action plans. Mr. Speaker, they’ll be laser-focused on market housing initiatives and will provide confidential advice to the minister on an ongoing basis about measures to increase housing supply and attainability.

I want to be crystal clear: The core mandate of this team is to get the job done. No more talk, no more reports, no more committee to study the findings of a working group to study the findings of a consultation table; this team is an action team. They will examine the commitment we have made under the More Homes for Everyone plan, as well as the vision and objectives of the Housing Affordability Task Force report and help us implement that, and they will be there to react to any emerging housing priorities and issues identified by our government.

We’re going to count on the expertise of this team to weigh in on a wide array of market-housing-related issues over the next four years. This includes helping us assess any initiatives that our government is considering towards increasing market housing supply. The team will also provide feedback on the best way to roll out our planned initiatives.

Speaker, I’m a results guy. Measuring our success and constantly keeping track of our progress is crucial. As I just mentioned to you earlier, the time for talk is over, and the time for action is now. As such, team members will provide advice on how we can measure the success of our plans when it comes to increasing the amount of attainable housing. This team, made up of some of the province’s foremost experts in the housing sector, will be a crucial part in helping us reach our goal of ensuring every Ontarian has a place to call home.

Because of how serious an issue this is, we ensured that the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team has access to every tool necessary to carry out their mandate. That’s why the team will be supported by topic-specific expert ad hoc consultation tables. These additional groups will include other housing experts who will weigh in on very specific topics and provide expert technical advice. They will be formed on an as-needed basis and will be dissolved once the needs of their main team are met.

In order for the Housing Supply Action Plan Implementation Team to provide its best advice to market housing initiatives, our government knew we needed a strong voice to sit at the head of the table. That’s why I’m proud to say that the minister and I will be appointing Mayor Drew Dilkens from the city of Windsor as chair. Mayor Dilkens is a fierce and strong champion for getting homes built. After a successful career as a lawyer, Mayor Dilkens stepped up to serve his community, first as a councillor before being elected as mayor in 2014. He understands the challenges families face accessing the housing market, and is ready to get to work to help our government get shovels in the ground. Undoubtedly, his expertise and passion for solving the housing supply crisis will be a major asset as the team begins its work.

We’re also proud to announce Mayor Cheryl Fort of the town of Hornepayne as the vice-chair.

Interjection.

The Associate Minister of Housing.

I would like to thank the government members for their presentation. My question is for the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

When we take a look at this legislation, there’s a curious omission—in fact, a glaring omission: Nowhere in this document, despite it being about building homes, is there any mention of rental affordability. We know that rental is a necessary step in the housing spectrum. In fact, it was this government that created legislation that removed rent control from buildings created after November 2018. Will this government admit that this was a mistake and that it did not create more affordable housing, and will you fix it?

I want to thank the minister and his excellent associate minister and parliamentary assistant for their speeches.

This past summer, I had an opportunity to speak to one of the local Barrie Rotary clubs about More Homes for Everyone. They’re really excited about the expedited approval process, because of things taking so long, and creating affordability not only for their kids, but for their companies and their businesses that rely so much on the housing sector.

But a clear thing that council complained about when they talked to their colleagues in the cities of Ottawa or Toronto is just the delays, and the fact that there’s a huge affordability crisis on our hands. Our government has done a lot to do things to keep costs low, but housing is a big part of it. We have local manufacturers, for example, in my constituency of Barrie where they’re attracting talent, but then the talent goes out to the housing market to try to see what they can get and it becomes very unattainable.

I want to ask the minister, on all the work that he has done to date: How is this going to build on that work, as well, to create that great attainable housing so people can actually work and live in the same community?

I would like to start by congratulating the PA being elected in this House and the job you’ve done.

I would say that we do agree that there is a housing crisis in Ontario. We know there’s homelessness. People are struggling to keep a roof over their head. I agree with that. You also talked a lot about supporting our municipal partners. So not only are people struggling to put a roof over their head, they’re struggling to pay their property taxes, and municipalities are drowning in infrastructure deficit. In Thunder Bay, for example, there’s about a $50-million infrastructure deficit. In Hamilton, it’s like a $2.5-billion, pushing $3-billion infrastructure deficit to keep in good working order our bridges, our roads.

We know that development does not pay for itself. So what are you doing to ensure all of this development doesn’t end up putting the burden on hard-working Ontarians, hard-working taxpayers?

I thank the member for the question. I was alive at the time; many voters weren’t. But I appreciate the question. I don’t agree with removing rent controls, no matter who does it. I think rent controls are incredibly important, and they’ve never been more important than right now, because we’re in a housing crisis. It’s a crisis because people can’t afford their rent. If we really want to do something to help keep people from hitting the streets, maybe your government will consider more than a 5% raise to ODSP.

We don’t believe that this is going to do anything for housing. But if the government truly believes that this bill is going to do something to increase housing, especially affordable housing, they should explain that and they should be meeting with housing advocates and explaining to them how that’s going to happen.

I listened to the minister’s press conference the other day. He was asked, over and over again, by journalists. He couldn’t answer the question. You’ve got to have your facts straight if you’re going to put a bill and make a claim like that.

The mandate letters have been kept secret. Yesterday, when we asked for a definition of “provincial priorities” at the ministerial briefing, we got, “Ask the minister.” When the ministry is unclear about what those priorities are—I didn’t hear a clear explanation. I was listening intently to the minister today. I think that’s something we’re sure going to have to ask him over the next few days.

Of course, they only told us we’d be talking about this at 10:45 last night, so it’s a little tough to ask those questions when you’ve got no notice of debate.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is my great honour to stand up in the House for the very first time to be speaking on Bill 3, the Strong Mayors, Building Homes Act. I’d like to start off by acknowledging one of my city hall colleagues previously, the member from Toronto Centre who is also in the chamber. I know we may not agree on many things, we may not have at city hall, but it’s great to be joining you as well.

As I stand in the House for the first time, I want to thank the great people from York South–Weston as they’ve entrusted me to represent them here at Queen’s Park and deliver for our community. Today, across the GTA and the entire province, we are facing a housing crisis, where too many hard-working families are struggling with housing and the rising cost of living. This is no different in my community of York South–Weston.

Recently I chatted with a young university student named Ben, who grew up in the riding and continues to live there with his family, friends and neighbours. He loves the area, but is frustrated and anxious about whether he can ever move out after he graduates this year and eventually own his own home in our community. Ben isn’t alone. This is something I’ve heard time and time again from young people and young families in my riding.

The reality is that our population is growing rapidly, with over a third of growth over the next decade expected to happen in our province’s two most populous cities, Toronto and Ottawa. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, housing construction is not keeping pace with the rapid growth of our province and these communities, after years of inaction. There is just not enough supply of homes to meet the growing demand, which is pushing the dream of home ownership too far out of reach and making affordable rentals harder to find for so many hard-working families.

It shouldn’t be this way. Ontarians from all walks of life should be able to work hard, save up and eventually own a home when the time is right. We understand that with inflation driving up the cost of living even higher, Ontarians need their government to be all hands on deck and implementing new, bold solutions. It is critical that we continue to build on our bold vision for the future and for the province to keep costs down and ensure Ontario communities continue to be the best place in the world to live, work and raise a family.

That is exactly what we are going to do. It starts with building more housing supply that everyday people—young families, renters, newcomers and seniors like those in diverse communities such as York South–Weston—can afford and access. Because no matter where you go, people are looking for housing that meets their needs and their budget.

I am proud of the progress that our government has been able to accomplish under the leadership of the Premier and Minister Clark. I welcome the good news that our government’s policies have helped get shovels in the ground for more than 100,000 homes in the last year alone, which is record-setting over the last 30 years.

I know there is still more work that needs to be done to deliver on our commitment to build 1.5 million new homes in our province. However, unlike my opposition colleagues, who say no to housing and the policies our government has put forward, our government is supporting our municipal partners, improving planning policies and cutting red tape to say yes to building more homes faster for everyone.

As a former Toronto city councillor, I know first-hand how it takes way too long to get things built and how frustrating long, drawn-out processes and red tape can be. For example, in Toronto’s northwest community, getting necessary permits, studies and zoning changes to potentially build thousands of new homes can take years, even to be able to get shovels in the ground. There are too many hands in the pot, with too many layers of bureaucracy, studies, permits that are delaying and driving up the cost of housing, construction and other critical infrastructure projects being built across our city.

There are too many delays, whether it’s responding to meeting requests, communications and points of clarification—which is a very much on-the-ground experience that I have seen, being a city councillor—and too many silos and layers that make it challenging for the development community to navigate and move their projects forward.

The people of my community and communities across Ontario, especially in Toronto and Ottawa, are tired of the countless studies and bureaucracy. Change can be slow and challenging at city hall. That is why they need and deserve action now, which is why we are introducing this critical piece of legislation to empower our municipal partners to get it done.

The new strong-mayor system will support better and faster decision-making at a local level and ensure Ontario’s two biggest cities are equipped with the powers they need to cut through red tape and get shovels in the ground. As I’ve mentioned, as a former city councillor in the city of Toronto, I know these municipalities can benefit from these changes presented in Bill 3. The new legislation will help drive up housing supply and speed up local planning approvals, driving policy changes and enabling mayors to build the right team to get the job done and develop budgets to make it happen.

Unlike the federal and provincial elections, where constituents directly vote for their local representative, municipal electors are also able to vote directly for the mayor whose vision, priorities and commitments best align with their values and what they would like to see for the future of their city and community. Although the mayor receives the direct endorsement of the people from across the city, they are stuck with one vote, similar to the rest of the council. The mayor should have more influence over the direction and the future of the city, over one individual city councillor.

However, that does not take away from the importance of city council as a whole, and we are empowering that through this bill. We are setting the bar higher for mayors and making it easier for them to deliver results based on the vision that they were elected to execute for their communities, and better hold them accountable for the decisions they make.

The legislation we are enabling the mayor to direct city staff to develop and bring forward proposals for city council consideration—sorry.

Interjection: Are you okay?

Thank you to the member for his remarks, full and considered. I think we all agree that more housing is needed, but across this province housing starts are at an all-time high. Last year, Ontario had over 100,000 housing starts, the highest level since 1987, and more than 13,000 rental starts.

Interjection.

We know we still need to build more homes. Does the opposition not agree and does the member not agree that we need to accelerate the construction of all kinds of homes for all kinds of folks in Ontario?

There’s growth happening all across [inaudible], and most of that growth is anticipated to be happening in Ottawa and in Toronto. For years, we’ve failed to plan for that, even though arguably it could be seen coming. Now, of course, we have a shortage of housing. There’s no disagreement on any side of this House that we need more homes, and that’s homes of all different types.

Why does the opposition oppose giving municipalities the tools they need in order to cut red tape and plan for the efficient building of new housing?

Yes.

We are setting the bar higher for mayors and making it easier for them to deliver results based on the vision they were elected to execute on for their communities and to better hold them accountable for the decisions they make. This legislation will enable the mayor to direct city staff to develop and bring forward proposals for council consideration that advance provincial priorities such as building more housing, transit and transit-oriented communities.

Mr. Speaker, again, we understand that there is no silver bullet to solve the housing crisis that has been decades in the making in this great province, but this bill is yet another step in the right direction and part of our long-term plan to build all kinds of homes, address the missing middle and help all Ontarians find a home that meets their needs.

Our government is about finding solutions and putting these solutions into action. There is no more time to waste. That is what our communities expect of us as elected officials. I am proud to be part of a government that is tirelessly working for the people and putting these ideas into action.

By building faster, adding more housing supply and making municipalities more accountable we can bring the dream of home ownership closer to reality for all people, including the very diverse communities and new immigrants from around our province who call Ontario home for the very first time, and give them a better life.

Together, let’s build more homes that people can afford. Let’s get it done.

Report continues in volume B.