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?

Speaker, that’s all a bit rich, because last week’s budget has no new funding to build new social housing or even to protect the ones that are already built. And the Premier’s own Housing Affordability Task Force said that a shortage of land was not the cause of the housing crisis. They said we need to make better use of land already available. The NDP supports this principle, but this Premier does not. He ignored his own task force and targeted prime farmland and the greenbelt for destruction. Now, the budget shows that housing starts are going down instead of up.

Speaker, to the Premier, will he admit that his housing policies are failing?

Speaker, my question is to the Premier again: Will he protect tenants by bringing back real rent control and invest meaningfully in affordable and non-market housing?

Budgets should reflect the needs of the people that were elected to serve. During budget consultations, we heard from Ontarians who presented solutions to the major issues facing Ontarians who are facing record evictions, barriers in access to family doctors or even access to an open emergency room in this province. People in Ontario are hurting, but there was no sense of urgency in budget 2023. In fact, one editorial said, “If this budget were a Christmas present, it would be a three-pack of white socks. Not entirely useless. But an exercise in going through the motions.”

Why didn’t this government listen to the people of this province? Because they presented solutions to our health care crisis, to a housing crisis and, yes, to a climate change crisis.

Municipalities were promised to be made whole by the minister after Bill 23 removed the development charges and compromised cities’ abilities to actually produce housing in the province of Ontario. In fact, budget 2023 contains a $124-million cut.

Education: School boards are facing millions in shortfalls with depleted reserves, and OSSTF notes that the entire budget change for the education sector comes from the federal child care money—which leads to a general question about transparency in the budgeting of this government.

Will this government be amenable to fixing this budget? Because we are focused on solutions on this side of the House.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. To begin, congratulations to the minister on the introduction of the budget that lays out our government’s plan to build a strong Ontario economy. Under the leadership of Premier Ford and this minister, the province is on a steady path to meet any challenge that comes our way.

However, Ontarians know that we’re not immune from the effects of global economic uncertainty, high interest rates and inflation. All these factors can adversely impact the ability of manufacturers to grow, innovate and become more competitive while creating new jobs.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what steps our government is taking to create the right conditions for expansion in Ontario’s manufacturing sector?

No.

The final supplementary.

Start the clock. The next question, the member for Waterloo.

Thank you to the minister for that great response. It’s encouraging to know that our government is continuing to support local communities by attracting key investments that protect jobs. The clear, decisive and targeted investments announced by our government will help contribute to the creation and retention of thousands of good-paying jobs. In contrast to the previous Liberal government, with its reckless policies and complete disregard for the manufacturing sector, our government is leading with a balanced and sound approach that will benefit individuals, families and our communities.

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on how the proposed Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit will improve our province’s competitive edge?

Well, Mr. Speaker, as was mentioned earlier, the mayor of Windsor is here today, and part of that road trip—

Interjection: A champion.

But here’s the thing: The businesses that are risking their capital will benefit with the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. This will help literally hundreds and thousands of businesses that support the supply chain, secondary and tertiary manufacturers who are investing their own capital to create jobs, to create new opportunities for families. That’s why we’re investing in this tax credit. If passed, it will help cities like Windsor, it will help the workers in Windsor and it will help Ontario prosper.

Mr. Speaker, you bet I can. That’s a great question. I also appreciate the member recognizing what happens within his community when the film and television industry comes in not for a visit, but to do their work and stay for a while. The ripple effect is positive for everybody. Thank you for noticing.

The film and television production industries continue to thrive. Some people might say to me, as they have before, “Thrive? How could they have thrived?” Well, let me tell you: 2022 was the best year ever. Hard to believe, but that goes to show you what a great industry it is. It is thriving, as I said, and it has wonderful people driving the bus—highest productions ever. I don’t like to say numbers but I will say it’s over $3 billion back into the economy. That’s 46,000 jobs.

This is an industry that’s moving forward aggressively—

Interjection.

Our schools are facing significant cuts to the supports our children need next year, yet this government’s new budget continues to massively underspend on education. If the government had just kept up with inflation since 2018, they would be spending $2.5 billion more on education. That doesn’t even take into account the additional supports our kids need because of the pandemic.

Will the government finally invest in our children, reimburse school boards for their COVID expenses and provide the stable and adequate funding our children need?

The supplementary question.

And the supplementary question: the member for Nickel Belt.

The supplementary question.

I am incredibly proud of the work that our team was able to do, ratifying an agreement with the Ontario Association of Optometrists for the first time since 2011. Some 98% of Ontario optometrists voted in support of this deal. Why? Because they understood clinically—and we worked very closely with the Ontario Association of Optometrists, and I really have to thank them for their commitment to getting this deal done. They worked very closely to ensure that we were looking at all of the services, where they needed to be expanded—which, of course, we have expanded in appropriate areas like access to glaucoma—and also saying, “Where are those investments and where do those pieces need to be?” Is it a healthy 65-year-old who has no eye issues or is it that young patient who has diabetes, that senior who has—

I think we all know that good vision has a huge impact on our quality of life. The move that has been done by this minister leads me to ask: What body of evidence that was used does the minister have to support her decision to reduce access to eye care for vulnerable seniors with deteriorating vision? What is the body of evidence that supports the move that this government is doing?

Preventive care keeps older Ontarians out of hospitals and emergency rooms. Currently, seniors can access an eye exam every 12 months, but under this government’s new rules, they will have to wait 18 months to get an exam covered by OHIP. This is a move to push seniors into using privatized services that many seniors cannot afford, nor should they have to.

To the Premier: Why is this government jeopardizing seniors’ health by reducing access to OHIP-covered eye care?

My question is for Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. The film production industry has been a major success story in Cambridge, and we welcome the tremendous economic injection into our local economy from domestic and foreign film productions. Nearly $900,000 was brought in just last year.

One production that has been filmed here since its first season is The Handmaid’s Tale, which became Cambridge’s unofficial claim to fame on the small screen. While viewers greatly enjoy this show as it wraps up its final season, local businesses in my community greatly benefited from the production and the work completed here.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting the film industry in Ontario, especially in communities like mine, with new film and cinema production opportunities?

Besides enjoying the annual growth of this industry and the benefits to our economy, the people of Ontario expect our government to ensure we have a permanent foundation for homegrown film and television industries. Can the minister please elaborate on the outlook for the film and television industry in Ontario?

My question is for the Minister of Red Tape Reduction. Red tape gets in the way of businesses and is a waste of time, energy and money. Unnecessary and outdated regulations implemented by the previous Liberal government, backed by the NDP, led to frustrations, delays, and compromised Ontario’s competitive economic advantage over other jurisdictions.

Under the leadership of the Premier and this minister, our government is following through on our promise to tackle the inconvenience and hardship of pointless fees, complicated paperwork and duplicative processes. While significant success has been achieved to make life easier through the Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act, more work needs to be done.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what positive impacts the people of our province can expect to see as a result of this legislation?

People and businesses in my riding and right across the province are best placed to help our government identify and eliminate outdated regulations and burdensome red tape. A focused and collaborative approach will ensure our continued economic success. Their knowledge and expertise will pinpoint unnecessary rules that do not serve a purpose and those that could be improved.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government will engage with Ontarians to identify how best to remove regulatory barriers?

Minister of Education.

Supplementary question?

The next question.