Way back in the fall of 2019, the Ontario Legislature hosted a special day for my Peterborough Lakers senior lacrosse team as a tribute for their third straight Canadian national lacrosse championship.

All of Peterborough was anxiously waiting for the 2020 season to begin. The Lakers were once again the odds-on favourite to repeat as the MSL champions and represent the east at the Mann Cup.

Of course, all of us know what happened in 2020 when the season was cancelled.

Then, in 2021, with COVID rearing its ugly head once again, the season was cancelled.

But this past summer, we were able to have a lacrosse season here in Ontario and out west. After a two-year hiatus because of COVID, Peterborough was in a position for an unprecedented four-peat. All that stood in the way of my Lakers was the Langley Thunder. It was a hard-fought seven-game series at the Peterborough Memorial Centre, with my Lakers once again capturing a fourth consecutive Mann Cup, an unprecedented second four-peat. No other city in Canada has ever won the Mann Cup four times in a row, and we have done it twice, ensuring that the Peterborough Century 21 Lakers are the centre of the lacrosse universe.

I’d like to give a special shout-out to Megan Dykeman, the MLA from Langley, BC, for being a good sport and wearing one of our Lakers jerseys in the BC Legislature after losing the bet with me.

I look forward to hosting another Lakers day here at Queen’s Park, where all of you will be welcome to come get your picture taken with the Mann Cup and meet some of the players on the world’s greatest lacrosse team.

I want to welcome the OPSEU/SEFPO members joining us today at Queen’s Park for their mental health and addictions lobby day.

There is a mental health and addiction epidemic across Ontario. OPSEU/SEFPO members and Ontarians in general are concerned about the lack of access to mental health and addiction services. Many Ontarians can’t access mental health or addictions care until they reach a crisis point. All roads continue to lead to the emergency room or death.

While emergency rooms consistently face crisis levels and aren’t equipped to provide appropriate mental health or addictions care, people have no option but to go to the ER when they need urgent mental health care. Many people are discharged without access to care because it either doesn’t exist or it isn’t covered by OHIP.

Hospitals are facing understaffing, unprecedented high volumes and wait times, and some have had to close their ERs temporarily.

The Conservative government chips away at our mental health system, purposely weakening it to push their pro-privatization agenda.

Many Ontarians can’t afford to pay for therapy. Wait-lists for publicly funded mental health or addiction care are months to years long, and services are limited. Community service agencies are worn thin due to persistent underfunding.

Mental health care is health care. Ontarians need and deserve access to publicly funded psychotherapy and counselling. People with substance-misuse struggles should be able to access treatment as soon as they ask for support.

The government must make major investments into the publicly funded, publicly delivered health care Ontarians need. It’s time to fix the broken mental health and addictions system to have true universal health care in Ontario, because lives depend on it.

It is an honour to rise on behalf of my constituents of Scarborough–Guildwood. It is with concern that I rise today to acknowledge an issue which has been deepening all across the province. For months now, alarming stories and scenes from hospitals and emergency rooms have caused Ontarians to turn their attention to our health care system. Even just last week, we had mothers with babies on the grounds of Queen’s Park. With increasing urgency, questions are being asked about how it is being funded and staffed.

With winter setting in and hospitals facing a perfect storm of COVID-19, flu and other respiratory illnesses, stories like that of Jasmine—a mother whose four-year-old child with Down syndrome spent close to 40 hours waiting in an ER for a bed, waiting in the hallway, where she lay on two chairs pushed together to form a makeshift bed—show how our health care system is worsening.

In my own community of Scarborough–Guildwood, residents have reported packed hallways, difficulties being seen by a doctor, and a number of cases being turned away at triage, with a few urgent cases being transferred.

This is unacceptable. Responsibility for what is happening lies squarely with the Premier and his government.

Whether it is Jasmine’s family or my residents in Scarborough–Guildwood, these vulnerable Ontarians need the help and support of their government. What their stories tell us is that the government has a duty to do what it should have done at the start of the pandemic: increase supports to meet these unprecedented needs; fast-track provincial supports for hospitals and health networks, like a new hospital for Scarborough–Guildwood; and repeal Bill 124 to address the urgent staffing shortages.

The people of Ontario must not be made to wait any longer, especially if they are four years old and having pneumonia and are sitting in a hallway for 40 hours.

At a time when inflation has reached the highest levels in four decades, we know families are feeling the pressure from rising prices on everything from gas to groceries.

During these challenging economic times, it is the government’s responsibility to continue to bring forth legislation that will support the people of Ontario by putting more money back into their pockets.

Speaker, that is why the government of Ontario is set to extend the provincial gas tax cut for another year.

The provincial gas tax was reduced by 5.7 cents per litre in the summer and was set to expire on December 31. Extending the gas tax cut for another year provides businesses and drivers with some relief. The gas tax cut reduces the cost of fuel by 5.3 cents per litre, which means the average household will save an estimated total of $195 between July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2023.

In times like these, we continue to do everything in our power to support the hard-working people and families of Ontario. This is yet another example of the provincial government’s ongoing commitment to keeping costs down for families and businesses, such as permanently removing tolls on Highways 412 and 418 and eliminating the licence plate sticker renewal fees.

J’aimerais profiter de l’occasion pour souhaiter bonne chance à tous les élus municipaux de ma circonscription. Certains d’entre eux ont été assermentés la semaine dernière. Ce soir aura lieu une soirée d’inauguration des maires qui formeront le nouveau conseil des comtés unis de Prescott et Russell.

Les élections maintenant derrière eux, c’est à ce moment-ci que le travail commence. Le rôle d’élu municipal en est un très important. Je dis toujours que c’est la voix des citoyens et je dis aussi que nous sommes embauchés par quelques milliers de personnes et nous sommes redevables à ces électeurs.

Donc, pour les nouveaux élus, vous allez vite réaliser que c’est très difficile de plaire à tout le monde. Si à chaque fin de journée, vous vous dites que vous avez fait de votre mieux, ça sera mission accomplie. Donc, je vous félicite pour votre implication envers vos communautés. Je suis confiant que vous saurez bien représenter vos contribuables et je suis à votre disposition en tant que votre représentant du gouvernement provincial.

Conservative Bills 23 and 39 have nothing to do with creating more deep, real affordable housing. They will strip our democracy, silence conservation authorities as well as progressive city councillors, and they attack natural resources, effectively ripping up the greenbelt during a climate crisis.

The greenbelt is more than a piece of land; it is an ecosystem of wetlands, wildlife habitats and essential biodiversity that are vital in our fight against climate change. Tearing up this ecosystem only paves us further down the path to climate catastrophe. This cannot be undone.

Our children will be hit the hardest. In fact, it is already weighing on their mental health. I have met with education workers and teachers with OSSTF District 12 in my riding who told me how their students are riddled with climate anxiety. I’ve heard it straight from the mouths of our kids in St. Paul’s. They are worried about their futures, about water injustice, flooding, noise pollution, air quality. They’re presenting with more allergies, respiratory infections and chemical sensitivities.

I urge this Conservative government to take real action on climate change. Keep your hands off the greenbelt. That’s a start. No amount of profit is worth costing a child their future.

Others have already acknowledged the presence of the Co-op Housing Federation of Canada. I want to acknowledge Simone Swail and Allison Chase, who I met with this morning, but also, especially, Alicia Mingua from the Primrose co-op in my community. Thank you for being here.

I’d like to give a warm welcome to the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, to Cystic Fibrosis Canada, and to OPSEU/SEFPO. Thank you for your advocacy.

It’s a pleasure to introduce realtors from Waterloo: Bill Duce, Nicole Pohl, Christal Moura, Val Brooks, Tania Benninger and Ellie Davila. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I want to thank Cystic Fibrosis Canada for a wonderful breakfast this morning—particularly Mr. Ron Anderson, who provided me with a very detailed conversation, and also from the great riding of Algoma–Manitoulin, in beautiful downtown Manitowaning, Chantal Filion. I look forward to our discussions this afternoon.

I’d like to welcome Sasha and Jamie Larocque and the entire team representing Cystic Fibrosis Canada to the Legislature this morning.

Interjections.

Speaker, I’d also like to welcome a few members from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. Allison Chase is Canada’s regional director for Ontario and is also a member of the Ramers Wood Co-op, which is located in my riding. We also have manager Simone Swail, director Patricia Tessier, and Tina Stevens here with us this morning.

Colleagues, they’re hosting a reception this evening in rooms 228 and 230, so I encourage all of you to stop by if you can.

I’d like to thank each and every one of them for the incredible work that they do behind the scenes for all Ontarians across the province.

I’d like to introduce some individuals from the Financial Advisors Association of Canada: Linda Gratton from my riding, Karen Low, and Grace Lindsay.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome the London St. Thomas Association of Realtors—Chad Lovell, Randy Pawlowski, Jack Lane.

I’d also like to send a special hello to my friend Tina Stevens from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada.

I’d like to introduce, from the great riding of Carleton, Rob Stewart of Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Order. We can’t have political commentary during introductions.

Minister of Finance.

I’d like to welcome Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada, who are here to discuss financial literacy at Queen’s Park today as part of Financial Literacy Month.

I’d like to take the opportunity to introduce a good friend of mine from Thunder Bay–Atikokan, Mark Halabecki. Mark and I worked together extensively with the Rural Cupboard Food Bank.

I’m looking forward to meeting with you and other OPSEU members later on this afternoon. Welcome.

As the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, I’d like to introduce Cystic Fibrosis Canada to the Legislature today.

Cystic fibrosis is a progressive, degenerative, multi-system disease that affects mainly the lungs and digestive system, and it’s the most common fatal genetic disease, affecting 4,332 Canadian children and young adults.

Thank you for your work and your advocacy, Sasha, Jamie—and to all of you here today on behalf of CF. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I want to welcome Scott Broad, who is here from the Lakelands Association of Realtors today and who is a fine member of the riding of Parry Sound–Muskoka.