That was announced this weekend, member opposite, if you weren’t paying attention to that.

It was announced this weekend and it is a direct result of the overwhelming need in our children’s hospitals, in the ICU, in the critical care units, for those very vulnerable children that we should be protecting. The hospitals are scrambling and they’re doing everything they can—but not this government. You’re not doing everything that you could be doing, because Bill 124 is an absolutely oppressive bill. In fact, the judge said, “Ontario has not ... explained why it was necessary to infringe on constitutional rights to impose wage constraint at the same time as it was providing tax cuts or licence plate sticker refunds that were more than 10 times larger than the savings obtained from wage restraint measures.” This is from the Ontario Superior Court judge.

Speaker, I would urge this government to do all that it can to provide the essential services and systems in this province, like health and education, with the resources that they need.

In September, the Financial Accountability Officer estimated that the government could end up paying $8.4 billion in back pay and increased wages to unionized and non-unionized employees affected by this very draconian wage cap in Bill 124.

I also want to just bring to the government’s attention—I met with some very, very passionate people in my community who were talking about ODSP and OW. The government did increase ODSP rates by 5%, and this is a step in the right direction—I acknowledge that—but the feedback I have received from these residents in my riding of Scarborough–Guildwood is that it is simply not enough for people to survive on in the current reality, in the face of rising inflation, in the face of increased costs in food, which we have seen will be a sustained increase in food costs. We see that core foods like bread and milk are going to remain high, even well into 2023.

I just want to read to you a letter that was written to me. It comes from the Social Assistance Coalition of Scarborough. By the way, Madam Speaker, they wrote to Minister Fullerton about their concerns all the way back in April 2022, so this government has had enough time to consider these very thoughtful recommendations from the Social Assistance Coalition of Scarborough, and they ought to be listening to these residents.

“While there was a 5% increase (just over $58 more per month) for ODSP recipients, it does not come close to lifting people on ODSP to a livable income, especially with rampant inflation and years of stagnated rates.” They noted to me, actually—not what I’m reading right now—that the rates have not increased since 2018, and we know that in 2018 a promised 3% increase was halved by the Ford Conservative government to 1.5%. “Moreover, the rate increase doesn’t apply to OW recipients. Many OW recipients are people with disabilities trying to access ODSP and forced to live on $733 a month, the maximum amount for a single person on OW.”

This is something that has been put forward by the Social Assistance Coalition of Scarborough, and I do want to note that this is an important aspect in my community. Food security is at a precarious level in my riding of Scarborough–Guildwood. In the 2022 Feed Ontario Hunger Report, it reveals that there is skyrocketing food bank use, including a 64% increase in first-time food bank visitors, and I can confirm that in my community we’ve actually opened new food banks—very sadly, but that’s because people are not able to make ends meet. They have to depend on the food bank each and every week for food. When I go to those lines, I see the faces of our students and our young people. I see the faces of our elderly, who have served this country and should live in dignity in their senior years, but they are relying on those food banks. And sadly, I see the faces of our children and our families.

And so, the fact that there is this food insecurity in our system right now, rising inflation, heavy cost of food—and at a time when the government is actually paving over farmland, right? Because Bill 23—we’ve been talking about that in this Legislature. Instead of investing and making people feel more food-secure, this government is busy paving over farmland by selling off the greenbelt to their developer friends. It’s just the wrong focus at a time when we need to do better, and I would urge the government to back down from Bill 23. It’s a wrong-headed move, a wrong decision.

The people of Ontario are saying that. In my community of Scarborough–Guildwood, which is located on the shores of Lake Ontario, right on the Scarborough Bluffs, we are sensitive to what happens in those wetlands, because what happens there is that it flows right down through my community and into the lake. So I am very concerned.

Yes, housing is at a crisis. We need more affordable housing. This government should be focused on that instead of looking at greenbelt land and those big monster homes. That is not going to solve the housing crisis, I can tell you that.

The one thing I also want to say as I close out is that extending the gas tax for cities is important. It’s important because they use those resources for public transit. In my community in Scarborough–Guildwood, we rely on that. I know that TTCriders has come to me. They would like to see an increase in funding to maintain the existing system so that it can operate at full capacity to serve the need, as well as new investments in things like the Eglinton East LRT. So it’s very important that we look at those new transit projects and extend those services and those supports to communities like mine in Scarborough that we need to continue to invest in.

Thank you so much, Madam Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to debate Bill 36 today.