The member from University–Rosedale made comments in the speech about not needing extra lands that we could do infill on. In Peterborough, in 2019, five single-family home building permits were issued. Six multi-unit buildings were put forward, and the NIMBYism blocked it. In fact, they’ve gone to the LTB. Three of those have already been heard and have been found to be in favour of the developer. The city didn’t actually send anyone to defend their position.

The argument that’s being put forward by the NDP is that there is enough land already for infill, that we don’t have to have any other land. Yet the example in my community is that there has been no development done, and the population has grown by more than 4,000 in the last four years. We have not had enough housing for 1,000 of them to actually be put in.

Why does the member think that status quo will work, when it is demonstrated over the last two decades that we’re not able to develop enough housing for the people who are coming to Ontario? The 100,000 new starts last year are 50,000 short of what we actually need. Why does the member believe that we do not need more land, that infill will work?

The government’s Housing Affordability Task Force was unequivocal that access to land is not the reason why we are having difficulty meeting our housing supply targets. Southern Ontario has more than enough land available to build the housing that we need for current and future Ontarians in land already zoned for development.

Environmental Defence has done a study looking at people’s enthusiasm for increasing density, so building more townhomes, duplexes and triplexes in existing neighbourhoods, and mid-rise buildings across transit corridors, and their polling clearly shows that people are pretty in support of that. I also find that in my riding: People want their children to move out of their basement and live in the neighbourhood that they grew up in, and they understand that we have a housing affordability crisis.

When we’re talking about building permits, in the city of Toronto, they approve about 30,000 building permits a year, and about 15,000 are done, so there is a discrepancy there that I think needs to be addressed, at least in the riding that I represent.

Thank you to the member for Oshawa—

Interjection.

I appreciate the comments of the member from Oshawa. Do you know what? I know we’ve often heard some very heartbreaking stories about our constituents, Ontarians who’ve been priced out of the housing market, unable to find a home that would meet their needs.

For the last eight years, I was a town councillor in the town of Tecumseh, and I received a number of them on my own for infill developments. The Baillargeon family is one case. They wanted to build a shed for their growing family to help store and add a bedroom within. They were refused because of a lack of clarity as a result of the Gilmor decision, which gave some uncertainty about when a conservation authority could issue a permit. There were cases on James Crescent, Dillon Drive and Chene Street in my former ward where, for over two years, permits could not be issued by the conservation authority.

Speaker, will the opposition let us know why this status quo, which prolongs approval delays and passes these excessive construction costs on to hard-working Ontarians, young families, students and seniors, is the better option ahead of us?

Thank you. I appreciate the question, but I also appreciate hearing some of our backstories in this room. For example, I didn’t know his background in terms of municipal politics.

We are hearing from real people who want a safe place to live, but who want something that they can afford. Whether that is about affordable rent or whether that is a distinct house with a backyard and a porch, people want to be able to afford a place to live.

But he raised permits. One of the things in our neck of the woods and across the province are permits that are just sitting there. The municipality issues permits, and then the developer just holds them and doesn’t develop. There may be reasons why, but when there aren’t, except for greed, how come we don’t see anything in this bill that would keep that from happening or protect the folks who are waiting and waiting and waiting?

But I don’t know, because in Oshawa and Durham region, we had a heck of a fight on our hands with this government and other players to save Duffins Creek, and we did. We were so excited. Amazon threw us the bone and we saved it, and then the developers—I think they said it was rogue farmers; I don’t know. Some pirate farmer came and tilled 90% of that protected land in the middle of the night because they gonna do what they gonna do. It was just heartbreaking and wrong, but it’s what happens.

This is a wish list to folks who asked for it through the years of this Premier and this government. So I don’t know. Maybe if they pool their resources and they’ve got more money than the developers, maybe—like, I would say call their MPPs, but I’m hearing, with all the rallies at their offices, some of them don’t even have staff, so I don’t know what they should do. Try.

Nothing in this legislation deals with affordable housing. Nothing in this legislation deals with affordable housing or ensures affordable housing. And you can clear the land, and you can clear the path, and you can rename—not you, sorry; through the Speaker: This government can rename a wetland to “land formerly known as wet” or “damp land” or “moist meadow.” You can rename it, and then that land becomes worth so much more on paper, that developer is laughing all the way to the bank and is not on the hook to build anything. None of them have to build—some of them will. Hopefully, they build affordable houses, affordable homes. Maybe they just all wake up tomorrow and say, “I’m going to make the world a better place.” But you haven’t put the assurances in there. The use-it-or-lose-it was a really smart option in terms of permits to ensure that once they get the permits, they actually do build. No. Where’s that?

He goes on to say, “I feel that this proposal will not only set a precedent that in future may be challenged in court to allow further sensitive greenbelt land to be purchased and developed for commercial and housing purposes. Two previous Progressive Conservative governments took action to preserve one, the Niagara escarpment and secondly the Oak Ridges moraine. This is part of the legacy of the PC Party....” He hopes that this “government has the foresight not to tarnish that legacy.”

He goes on to say, “The only winners are the land speculators and developers who stand to reap millions of dollars in profits at the expense of every single person in Ontario, for the foreseeable future.” That’s how it’s perceived by the outside world.

This is not a bill for the average Ontarian. This is a bill that, I think, answers that wish list for developers. If the member opposite was going to take exception that I’m imputing motive, I haven’t. But it’s really hard to talk about one without the other when there’s so much money being made now as a result of these changes.

I guess it remains to be seen whether or not these houses are ultimately built and how many Ontarians get the housing that they need and deserve. This is not the province that we deserve, though. I’ll say that much. Thank you.