Minister of Transportation.

There’s a lot of conversation taking place at this end of the chamber and it’s making it difficult to hear the member who actually has the floor.

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. Former mayors of Toronto have called Bill 39 an “attack on one of the essential tenets of our local democracy and” with it “a fundamental democratic mechanism: majority rule.”

The mayors also note that with the integrity and the well-being of Ontarians on the line, people are organizing for a historic showdown. The title of this fight is “Citizens versus the provincial government.”

Interjections.

Speaker, homelessness is an extremely important and complex issue that impacts Ontarians. Last week, I was speaking with Jasmin from LAMP Community Health Centre in my riding of Etobicoke–Lakeshore. We discussed the challenges that are faced by individuals and families experiencing unsheltered homelessness, and how they become all the more heightened during the winter months.

While it is essential that assistance and programs are available to meet urgent needs, there must also be new solutions and coordination of services to support Ontario’s most vulnerable people. Across this province, there are many individuals and families whose physical, mental and social well-being are at risk because they need access to resources and local supports.

Speaker, can the Associate Minister of Housing please explain what our government is doing to provide vulnerable Ontarians with the support they need?

Our government must provide assistance to individuals whose health and safety might be at risk because of the cold. Can the Associate Minister of Housing provide details about support systems and programs available to those needing shelter?

The member opposite did a member’s statement acting like Bill 39 was passed in the Legislature. The bill is in committee. In fact, I think the opposition only mustered up three amendments to the whole bill. So never underestimate the NDP to do the least amount of work possible.

Again, Speaker, I support Mayor Tory. Mayor Tory’s request for this amendment to the strong-mayors legislation is something our government supports, because we want to ensure that Mayor Tory, who received a strong democratic city-wide mandate in the October 24 election—he wants to get shovels in the ground, and he wants to support our goal to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years, unlike the NDP, Speaker, who won’t even utter the words “home ownership” in the Legislature. Shame on you.

I want to thank my honourable colleague for this very important question and for all the great work she does in her community.

Speaker, I want to point out that Ontario, under this government, is the primary funder of all homelessness programs, with 86% of the funding coming directly from the province. Earlier this year, we developed a new Homelessness Prevention Program to simplify and streamline operations to allow service managers to help more people find a home and spend less time on paperwork. We also increased this program by $25 million this year, bringing the total close to half a billion dollars annually.

Speaker, I recently visited Scott Mission here in Toronto and the Ottawa Mission before heading north to visit Urban Abbey and Grace Place in Thunder Bay to see first-hand the great work that’s being done to support those who are facing housing challenges.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll say it again: We will continue to be there and we will work with all partners to make sure we don’t leave any Ontarian behind.

Speaker, I would like to point out that a few municipalities across our province have opened up warming centres for those who are looking for a place to stay, and we need to continue to work together to be there for all those in need of support. I encourage Ontarians who need more information, or assistance, to dial 311.

Speaker, this government will simply not leave anyone behind. We’ll continue to work with our partners, like the Salvation Army, amongst others, to ensure that every Ontarian has a warm and safe place this winter season.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Last Thursday, we heard from 18 witnesses about Bill 39. Fourteen of those 18 witnesses spoke against the bill. They represent the overwhelming public outcry against this government’s unprecedented attack on local democracy. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario made this very point, saying, “Bill 39 will disenfranchise elected councillors and potentially destabilize and undermine the authority of municipal government.”

AMO is not alone in its understanding of this matter. It has been expressed clearly and repeatedly by countless media outlets, leading scholars, political commentators, and others who care about democracy and good government. Minister, will you listen to Ontarians and withdraw Bill 39?

The Ontario Line is 75% over budget. That’s why we said no.

Accountability isn’t all we need. For 10 years, small businesses in midtown and Little Jamaica have been devastated by the LRT’s construction, with more businesses shutting down for good than I can count. Small businesses are a community. The latest LRT delay, pushing the open date to late 2023 at the earliest, will be the last straw.

While many of our small businesses didn’t get help during the pandemic, this Premier gave nearly $1 billion—$1 billion—to corporations and businesses that didn’t need it or didn’t qualify. Some of them weren’t even in Ontario, Speaker.

My question is back to the Premier. Will you be providing substantial financial support for our small businesses so that they can weather this storm that this government has created?

Our government recently announced an environmental assessment proposal that will help secure a critical minerals project in northwestern Ontario. This critical minerals project will bring job opportunities and secure Ontario’s future as a leader in the generation of clean, sustainable electric vehicles.

While we hear from the opposition that our government does little to protect the environment, it is evident that our government’s actions demonstrate environmentally responsible leadership.

Can the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks please explain how this environmental assessment approval will support northwestern Ontario?

There is tremendous potential in the north, and many positive outcomes can be achieved as our government continues to promote Ontario’s mining sector.

My question is to the Minister of Mines. Can he please elaborate further on the importance of this mining project in northwestern Ontario and how it will support our government’s Critical Minerals Strategy?

I refer it the Standing Committee on Procedures and House Affairs.

Resuming the debate adjourned on December 5, 2022, on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 36, An Act to implement Budget measures and to enact and amend various statutes / Projet de loi 36, Loi visant à mettre en oeuvre les mesures budgétaires et à édicter et à modifier diverses lois.

I introduced her earlier; she wasn’t here but she is now. My constituent Cheryl Crompton is here on the government side. It is her birthday today, and I hope you will all join me in wishing her a happy birthday.

Happy birthday.

I’d like to thank members of my constituency and others for bringing forward this petition to protect the greenbelt.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas the Premier has persistently promised over the last four years not to develop the greenbelt; and

“Whereas the Premier has plans to build Highway 413 that would pave over 400 acres of the greenbelt, including over 2,000 acres of class 1 and class 2 farmland; and

“Whereas the government now has plans to open up over 7,400 acres of the greenbelt to his pro-sprawl developers;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To instruct the Ontario government to immediately commit to cancelling Highway 413 and immediately halt all plans to develop the greenbelt and to instead invest in livable and affordable communities connected by transit that protect the nature that protects us, the farmland that feeds us, and mitigates climate pollution.”

I wholeheartedly support this petition. I will sign it and ask page Oriana to bring it to the table.

I’d like to thank the member for Thunder Bay–Atikokan for that excellent question. He’s right: Too often we hear this false choice. Environmental protection and economic development go hand in hand, and that’s a belief of this government. In fact, that worrying false dichotomy presents a fundamental lack of belief in Ontarians and in the potential of the men and women in the north.

Speaker, there is no net-zero without mining. In the north, the corridor to prosperity means the critical minerals we need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.

Just this past week, I approved, with my powers under the Environmental Assessment Act, Generation PGM’s Marathon mine project. This approval is a guarantee that this vital project will go forward for the people of northern Ontario.

Ontario is leading Canada, showing that by working with businesses, not taxing them, we can realize the potential of the north, work hand in hand with Indigenous partners, and ensure that Ontario is at the forefront of decarbonization.

I’m going to quote MPP Wong-Tam when they had the title of city councillor, because I think it really sends a message on how the NDP operate: “Good luck trying to build your tower or your condo if we don’t give you the road occupancy permit. Good luck if we don’t give you that permission to remove that single tiny little tree. It is simply not going to happen.”

We’re going to support Mayor Tory, who received a strong, democratic, city-wide mandate. I’ve said in this House that every other councillor combined—the mayor still had 36,000 more votes. He wants to make the strong-mayor powers work. We want to work with him. A third of the growth in the next decade is going to come in our two biggest cities, Toronto and Ottawa. We have to give those mayors the tools to get shovels in the ground faster. That’s exactly what Bill 39 does.

Thank you to the member from Thunder Bay–Atikokan for your question and for the great work you’re doing in your riding.

Mr. Speaker, Generation Mining’s Marathon palladium project supports our Critical Minerals Strategy by creating a source of palladium, a mineral vital in the production of clean technologies, right here in Ontario. This market is important because Russia has cornered the market and is a primary global supplier of this mineral. Our strategy is combatting this and ensuring our allies have access to these resources by creating the right conditions for companies to do what they do best: build mines and create jobs.

Just listen to what Jamie Levy, CEO of Generation Mining, had to say about our government’s support for their project: “We appreciate the support of the province throughout this process. This important critical mineral project will bring economic prosperity to the town of Marathon, Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, and the regional Indigenous communities by creating 900 construction jobs and 375 mining jobs.”

Mr. Speaker, our Critical Minerals Strategy is working.

The ayes are 29; the nays are 67.

Under the leadership of this Premier, we are delivering the largest transit expansion in Canadian history, all while investing in high-quality, high-paying, homegrown jobs. In the last three years alone, Mr. Speaker, our government has invested almost $500 million to support Thunder Bay workers at the Alstom plant. We currently have nine open contracts with Alstom for projects across the province. We’ve recently ordered 60 new streetcars and the refurbishment of 94 GO train coaches to maintain 300 good manufacturing jobs at the Alstom facility.

As part of our largest transit expansion plan in Canadian history, the city of Toronto has been provided with the opportunity to redirect more than $5 billion in its state-of-good-repair funding to the existing TTC network, which will then include the purchase of new streetcars and new subways. Mr. Speaker, this means real opportunity for the province of Ontario, and the member opposite’s party voted against that deal.

Part of the deal with the federal government and the city of Toronto and York region involve the redirecting of $5 billion of funding to the state of good repair. The NDP and the Liberals voted against that deal. That is the way we’re going to continue to send more orders to the Alstom plant in Thunder Bay to make sure that those high-quality, good-paying jobs are there for years and years to come. But, Mr. Speaker, we’re putting forward the plans and the members opposite keep voting against them.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit and meet with businesses in my riding of Ajax. I consistently hear the same message, that under the previous Liberal government, it was challenging to start and grow a business in Ontario. Hard-working innovators and small businesses struggled to navigate unnecessary, redundant and outdated regulations. Businesses in my community and across all of Ontario suffered from legislative barriers and the largest red tape burden in the country.

Ontarians expect their government to support them and to implement measures to increase our province’s competitiveness, productivity and economic potential. Speaker, can the Minister of Red Tape Reduction please share how our government supports small businesses across Ontario?

The historic progress achieved by our government to modernize processes and reduce red tape is helping businesses save time and money. Business owners, and all Ontarians, expect their government to focus on measures that make government services easier to access and interact with.

Speaker, can the Minister of Red Tape Reduction please explain the positive outcomes that have been achieved for the people of Ontario by cutting unnecessary red tape?

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague the member from Ajax for that important question. She has been doing a great job, working with her businesses and also bringing some of the concerns to my attention.

The member is absolutely right. Our government inherited a regulatory system from the previous Liberal-NDP coalition government that was hurting our small businesses and drove hundreds of thousands of jobs out of the province.

Thankfully, our government is taking action. It has been a privilege to work with small businesses across our province, of course, resulting in the introduction of the Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act. The bill will build on our government’s strong record of cutting red tape over the last four and a half years. Since 2018, the red tape reduction measures we have introduced have saved businesses over half a billion dollars annually in compliance costs. We know our work is not done yet.

I will speak to it more in the supplementary, Mr. Speaker.

But don’t just take my word for it, Mr. Speaker. This is what the Ontario Chamber of Commerce had to say:

“We welcome the government’s continued commitment to creating a more competitive business environment through its red tape reduction bills.

“These measures can help support economic recovery by accelerating business growth, advancing innovative solutions, and attracting investment.”

Mr. Speaker, we know we have more work to do. We will continue to work hard each and every day and get it done.

I want to thank Dr. Sally Palmer from McMaster University for designing this petition and getting it out.

“Petition to Raise Social Assistance Rates.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and far from adequate to cover the rising costs of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and soon $1,227 for ODSP;

“Whereas an open letter to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, signed by over 230 organizations, recommends that social assistance rates be doubled for both Ontario Works (OW) and the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP);

“Whereas the recent small budget increase of 5% for ODSP still leaves these citizens well below the poverty line, both they and those receiving the frozen OW rates are struggling to live in this time of alarming inflation;

“Whereas the government of Canada recognized in its CERB program that a basic income of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;

“We, the undersigned citizens of Ontario, petition the Legislative Assembly to double social assistance rates for OW and ODSP.”

I support this petition. I’ll sign it and give it to page Scarlett to deliver to the table.