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.

A glorious morning, everyone, and welcome to the new member from Hamilton Centre.

Housing is an issue that is top of mind for most Ontarians. For many, owning a home is completely out of reach, and finding a home to rent is also a struggle. There are simply not enough homes to go around and not enough that are affordable.

Enter the government, with their impressive, albeit lofty, goal to build 1.5 million homes in the next 10 years.

Last week, we received the 2023 Ontario budget. The government projects over 80,000 housing starts a year for the next three years. This is a substantial decrease from the forecast in last year’s budget, and if we continue this way, we’ll need to build almost 200,000 homes a year thereafter. This will be next to impossible, Mr. Speaker.

Can the Premier explain to Ontarians how the government plans on achieving the goal of 1.5 million homes in 10 years based on the numbers we saw in the budget last week and considering we are already behind schedule?

We know people want to live in existing communities, in urban centres and vibrant neighbourhoods, with access to infrastructure they need to enjoy a fruitful life: schools, public transit, parks, hospitals, shops. We should focus on creative solutions—building up and not building out, not creating more sprawl. It can and should be done. Homes don’t have to be built in the greenbelt. They don’t have to be built on flood plains and wetlands. They don’t have to be built in areas where you need to access everything by car.

Mr. Speaker, my question is, will the government be focusing on building in existing communities, and if so, what are some of the solutions that they are exploring and how will they do so quickly, efficiently and sustainably?

I want to thank the hard-working member for Brampton North for the important question. We know that under the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, the province was drowning under red tape. Of course, we know that businesses were fleeing our province and families were having a hard time making ends meet.

Since 2018, reducing red tape has been one of the top priorities for this government, and we have been working hard. We’ve introduced nine different bills to help Ontarians when it comes to unnecessary red tape burden. What all of that means, Mr. Speaker: It means saving businesses and individuals over half a billion dollars in annual costs. Of course, our most recent bill, Bill 46, the Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act, again includes a number of meaningful, impactful legislative and regulatory changes to boost our economic growth and modernize our government processes. And we will continue that hard work, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the member for Beaches–East York for her question. As I said earlier in the House, over the last two years, we’ve seen housing starts in Ontario the likes that we had not seen in over 30 years. In fact, on the rental piece, as I said earlier, it’s the highest amount of starts in Ontario’s history last year.

We need everyone, all three levels of government, to work together.

I want to specifically talk about the member for Beaches–East York because she repeatedly, as a member of Toronto city council, voted to exempt development charges on affordable housing, supporting the city of Toronto’s Open Door Affordable Housing Program. I want her to take the same principles from when she was at Toronto city council and apply them to support our measures in More Homes Built Faster, because that’s exactly what we need to do.

We need to incent non-profit housing. We need to incent more rental opportunities—

“The Ontario Alliance to End Homelessness is pleased to see this significant investment in homelessness services from the government of Ontario. This is a much-needed increase in funding to help address the homelessness crisis affecting municipalities throughout the province.”

Again to the member, I hope she continues to support our budget and support those initiatives to help prevent—

The only thing historic about this government’s education spending, Speaker, is their inability to get the funding out the door.

Under this government, kids with accessibility needs are already not getting the support they need. And now the government is forcing thousands of kids with autism into school with no transition plans and no additional resources for schools, which means already inadequate supports are going to have to be stretched even further.

How are we going to keep these kids safe? How are we going to help them succeed? Where is the plan? And where are the resources to make sure that every child can thrive in our schools?

I thank the member opposite for the question. Ferries are an integral part of Ontario’s transportation network, and I know that communities across the province rely on this essential mode of transportation for them to get to and from their homes and for first responders as well.

Ontario is facing a historic shortage of workers that impacts sector across the board, including an industry-wide shortage of licensed seafarers that has affected ferry operations in the province. Mr. Speaker, in our budget, we announced funding for 20 new staff for our ferries. And in response to this industry-wide shortage of seafarers, my ministry is working with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities so that we can offer more training programs to get more workers in the industry.

Mr. Speaker, this is not just a problem that is facing Ontario; it is a problem across the country. And that’s why, at my most recent federal-provincial-territorial ministers meeting, I had the opportunity to discuss this with my colleagues from across the country so that we can make sure that we’re addressing it so that we can get ferries operating on a consistent basis.

This time, my question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. For years, the previous Liberal government sent hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs out of the province, including my riding of Cambridge. But they were also responsible for sending droves of IT jobs south of the border, leaving Ontario unprepared for the industries and jobs of the future. That’s why we have taken action to rebuild the province’s advanced manufacturing and IT sector jobs, all while growing the economy and creating these great jobs.

Speaker, in competitive sectors that employ hundreds of thousands of workers, will the minister please explain how our government is tracking new investment and ensuring Ontario is open for business?

Speaker, with today’s announcement from VueReal, can the minister please elaborate on what conditions these are and explain why companies are choosing my riding of Cambridge and Ontario?

I want to thank my colleague for that question. Again, one of my priorities as the Minister of Red Tape Reduction—and I know our government, under the leadership of our Premier—is to hear from as many businesses and individuals as possible and to hear their first-hand experience and learn from that. Last week, I had an opportunity to meet with another consultation group from the retail council sector, which was very productive. I can tell you that their insight and recommendations are what help inform our red tape bill. I am proud to say that my team and I are already working on our next red tape bill.

We will continue to engage with all Ontarians to generate new ideas on how we can continue to remove unnecessary red tape and continue to build on the tremendous success we’ve had so far. The people of this province deserve nothing less.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. This really starts with the Liberals letting a system crumble and the NDP standing by while it happens. As we’ve brought forward significant resources, a record number of adjudicators, during COVID, we protected tenants by putting a pause on evictions.

But when we brought forward investments for recruitment, the NDP voted against it. And when we brought forward investments for back-office support in the millions of dollars, the NDP voted against it. And when we brought forward almost $14 million to help with accelerating the hearings and the systems, the NDP voted against it.

We’ve made significant investments in the back end of the system, because the Liberals had let it crumble and the NDP stood by. I’d be pleased to talk about those in the supplementary.

Mr. Speaker, I’m very proud of the work that we’re doing. We have more work to do. I look forward to the NDP supporting us at some point for something to help move us forward.

The Attorney General.

My question is for the Premier. Speaker, ferry workers in Kingston are in a manufactured staffing crisis. Instead of raising these ferry workers’ wages to competitive levels, the minister has decided to pay an out-of-province temporary staffing agency two to three times more than what these unionized MTO ferry workers earn.

Some of the workers are in the public gallery today, Speaker, and their question is to the Premier: Will the Conservative government finally stop paying scab labour to do their jobs? Will they respect the collective agreement and repeal Bill 124 so that workers can get back to work with fair pay and competitive wages?

The ferry passengers have experienced cancellations and delays of up to 12 hours on this vital transportation route, and worse still, the understaffing situation is a health and safety issue. There was a dangerous incident on the Wolfe Island ferry just last month. These workers deserve to have safe working conditions, and the passengers deserve to feel secure, knowing that there are well-trained, experienced staff to ensure they’re safe during their commute.

My question, Speaker: Will the Conservative government stop the service disruptions and reductions caused by deliberate ministry understaffing and invest in permanent MTO ferry workers who keep our ferries safe and on time?

Speaker, just this morning, we welcomed a $40 million investment from VueReal. This is a made-in-Ontario start-up in Waterloo region. VueReal has become a leader in the development and manufacturing of MicroLED displays and sensors. They’re used in devices in aerospace, automotive and medtech. This investment, with a $2-million support from the province, will boost local manufacturing and strengthen clean-tech innovation while creating 75 new, good-paying jobs in the process.

Speaker, this is how we’re bringing new life to local manufacturing, and this is how we are building Ontario.

We have 26,000 tech companies, over 400,000 tech employees, 65,000 STEM grads every year—all part of a world-class innovation ecosystem. That’s our competitive edge. That’s the proof that we’re creating the conditions for companies like VueReal to succeed. And that’s why companies continue to land here in Ontario.

In 2019, Nicole’s landlord filed for a personal-use eviction. She later learned that this was misrepresentation. Today, Nicole is still waiting for an LTB hearing after moving into a new apartment that costs her now twice as much. LTB’s own data shows that landlords are being fast-tracked for hearings over tenants.

Can the Premier explain why he is making tenants wait so long for access to justice?

Why is it agreeable to this Premier that tenants have to wait so long for access to justice?