I know there are a lot of guests in the House today, but on my list I have a few. I have the MP for Hamilton Centre, Matthew Green; his wife, Jayde Jarvis; and their son, Langston Green.

And then from my constituency office, I have Heather Lambert-Hillen, who is with us; her daughter, Charlise Hillen; and former page Daunte Hillen. Welcome back to Queen’s Park.

I want to welcome to Queen’s Park the Ontario Road Builders’ Association, ORBA. Mr. Speaker, today we have Mario Villeneuve, Andrew Weltz, Malcolm Croskery, Kevin Machej, Kieran Hawe and Christian Dover, as well as Michael McSweeney.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce people from my riding of Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas: the wonderful Daniela Giulietti—welcome to the House. Also I’d like to welcome the Hamilton school board trustee Sabreina Dahab and her sister, Batool. Welcome to your House.

I’d like to welcome Dale and Theresa Hoard. They’re from Sterling. Dale is the owner of MicroAge Technologies in Belleville, and he’s also the president of the Belleville and district chamber of commerce. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I just want to welcome to the House Michau van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition. He celebrated his 28th birthday last week, so happy birthday, Michau.

I too would like to welcome our friends from labour. I’ll reiterate: Patty Coates; Andria Babbington, for the Toronto and York Region Labour Council; Yolanda McClean from CUPE; and also I can’t help but re-welcome Matthew Green, who is part of the federal Black caucus. It’s really wonderful to see you and your family here today.

I rise with great pleasure today to welcome the family of Ethan Blonski, who is part our page team this week: Stephanie Joyce, Ken Blonski, and brother Ryan Blonski. And, Speaker, Ryan is one of the people who signed up to be a page, but, because of the pandemic, couldn’t. So, Ryan, special props to you for signing up. Thank you so much to the family of Ethan for being here.

I do, Mr. Speaker. Thank you for the attention. I am seeking unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 45(b)(iv), the time for debate on opposition day motion number 3 be allocated as follows: 54 minutes to each of the recognized parties and 12 minutes for the independent members as a group.

I’d like to welcome many people from labour to our House today: Patty Coates, Ahmed Gaied, Janice Folk-Dawson from the OFL, Yolanda McClean from CUPE. From OPSEU Local 428, we have Jody Pringle, the president; Lee MacLaren; Michelle Langlois; Tina Faibish; Melissa Coenraad; Chrisy Tremblay; Hilary Cook; and, of course, J.P. Mrochek—sorry; J.P. Mrochek is a friend of mine—JP Hornick from OPSEU/SEFPO, who is also a friend of mine. Welcome to your House.

I’ll continue with introduction of visitors unless there are any objections.

Good morning, Speaker. I’d like to welcome Lycée Français de Toronto school to Queen’s Park. Bienvenue au parc de la Reine.

I’d also like to welcome the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists’s Yolanda McClean, who is the CBTU president and international board member; Andria Babbington, the president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council; Ahmad Gaied, the OFL secretary-treasurer; Patty Coates, OFL president; Janice Folk-Dawson, executive vice-president of OFL; also JP Hornick, sitting on the government side; as well as Michau van Speyk, an autism advocate who we all adore. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d like to wish a very warm welcome to a good friend of Windsor, a good friend of the province of Ontario, His Worship Mayor Drew Dilkens.

The certificate bears today’s date, is addressed to the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly and reads as follows:

“Dear Mr. Decker:

“A writ of election dated the 15th day of February, 2023, was issued by the Honourable Lieutenant Governor of the province of Ontario and was addressed to Ryan Leverton, returning officer for the electoral district of Hamilton Centre, for the election of a member to represent the said electoral district of Hamilton Centre in the Legislative Assembly of this province in the room of Andrea Horwath who, since her election as representative of the said electoral district of Hamilton Centre, has resigned.

“This is to certify that, a poll having been granted and held in Hamilton Centre on the 16th day of March, 2023, Sarah Jama has been returned as duly elected as appears by the return of the said writ of election, dated the 24th day of March, 2023, which is now lodged of record in my officer.

“Yours sincerely,

“Greg Essensa, Chief Electoral Officer.”

Ms. Jama was escorted into the House by Ms. Stiles and Mr. Vanthof.

Congratulations to the member from Hamilton Centre on your victory and coming here to join us in the House.

Absolutely, we as a government understand the valuable work that our immigrant workers play, which is why we continue to fund those services through OHIP-funded services. The member opposite has on the NDP website today, right now, false information, Speaker, and I don’t use that word lightly. They are suggesting to the general public that individuals who have come to Ontario are not going to get services in the province of Ontario. It is factually incorrect. And it continues to be on their website, even though multiple sources, including the Toronto Star, have told them that in fact that is not the case.

Would the member opposite respectfully remove that false information from their website?

I want to reinforce: We have 75 community health centres spread across Ontario that have funding models that ensure that they can provide necessary health services for individuals who, for any number of reasons, do not have an up-to-date OHIP card. We have temporary foreign workers who have programs provided by the federal government to ensure that they have health care funding in the province of Ontario.

Again, Speaker, I would urge the member opposite to take down the misinformation because it is seeding unnecessary fear in the people of Ontario, and it’s wrong.

Interjections.

The only change is how hospitals, community health and midwifery centres will be reimbursed for insuring and providing that care.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present to you and to the House Sarah Jama, member-elect for the electoral district of Hamilton Centre, who has taken the oath and signed the roll and now claims the right to take her seat.

My question is to the Premier. Not every Ontarian has an OHIP card—migrant workers who help keep our agriculture sector going through back-breaking labour, out-of-status workers in the construction sector who face risks on the job, and refugees fleeing violence in conflicts around the world. Through you, Speaker: Does the Premier think the uninsured should be eligible for urgent medical care?

That this government is making these cuts while redirecting public money out of public care and into the private pockets of a few connected people makes this even more shocking.

Speaker, my question is to the Premier: Why did his government choose to eliminate this simple, yet compassionate, program?

I want to try this out on you: “Devastatingly cruel”; “A big mistake”; “A regressive decision”; “Harmful and cruel”; “Unconscionable”—not my words, Speaker, but those of physicians across this province who are talking about this government’s decision to eliminate this program.

Speaker, the Premier seems to have no problem finding ways to help out people that he knows, his friends, but when it comes to helping Ontarians who are in need, he’s willing to turn his back.

So my question to the Premier again is: Will he reverse his decision to end this program and finally put those in need ahead of his insider friends?

Interjections.

Interjections.

The NDP has proposed many ideas to achieve this, such as updating zoning rules to allow more affordable missing-middle housing and investing in hundreds of thousands of new affordable and non-market homes.

The government has said no to every single solution we present. Instead, they focus their attention on carving up the greenbelt, a decision that will only help a few insiders while everybody else is being left behind.

Speaker, the government’s own budget shows that new housing starts are going down in Ontario instead of up. Does the Premier really think that his plan is working?

Let the honourable member take her seat.

Applause.

It is now time for oral questions.

Supplementary question.

Final supplementary?

The Minister of Health to reply.

Restart the clock. The Leader of the Opposition has the floor.

The supplementary question?

Speaker, over the last two years, housing starts have reached a level that this province hasn’t seen in over 30 years. Last year, rental housing was at an all-time high. We’ve never had more rental housing starts than we did last year.

Speaker, the member can say all she wants, but the facts are right in Hansard. When we proposed to give a break to non-profit housing, they voted against it. When we decided to make it cheaper and easier to build more purpose-built rentals and provided those incentives, her party voted against it. Time and time and time again, we present positive opportunities to create better gentle density in neighbourhoods, more rental opportunities, and more non-profits. It’s the NDP that is the party of no. They are the ones—

Thank you for the question. I, too, want to congratulate the member from Hamilton Centre and welcome her to the House.

Mr. Speaker, my great parliamentary assistants from Oakville and Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound criss-crossed the province to listen to people—me, too. We went around the province and we heard from the people of Ontario. And do you know what they said? They said, “Yes, times are tough. The price of everything is going up. Thank you for acting in the budget of 2022.” And, by the way, Mr. Speaker, what did the opposition do on that budget? They voted no.

Well, then, we went to the fall economic statement, where we continued the gas-tax cut and increasing the minimum wage; lower taxes for the lowest-income workers of this province; ODSP, GAINS—I could go on. Which way did the opposition vote? Yes or no?

As we listened right across Ontario, do you know what they asked for? They asked for health care. Well, this budget gets $4 billion from the federal government over the next three years—which is true; we’ll give you that. Do you know how much we’re investing in the people of Ontario in health care? It’s $15 billion over the next three years—this government. And do you know what that $15 billion does? It goes to pay nurses; it goes to pay personal support workers, physicians, therapists—you name it. We are supporting our health care workers. In fact, we put in an additional $80 million over three years to expand our nursing education for 1,000 registered nurses, 500 registered practical nurses and 150 nurse practitioners.

Please join us and vote for the budget and support our health care workers.

Mr. Speaker, these are uncertain times; there’s no question. We are working hard to build a more certain future for future generations by focusing on the economy, the infrastructure and our workers in this province.

Last week, I talked about a road trip that we took around the province. We made multiple stops around the province, and one of the stops that we should have made was in Brampton. Do you know what is happening in Brampton, Mr. Speaker? We are supporting auto manufacturing in Brampton, which had left, which was leaving the province—300,000 manufacturing jobs leaving the province over the last decade and a half. Guess what, Mr. Speaker? They’re coming back. They’re coming back to Brampton, to Oshawa, to Oakville, to Windsor—right across this province.

What else you got?