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?

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.

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?