To the member across the House, the member for Oakville, thank you very much for your remarks and especially your comments about the fall economic statement.

I recognize that you were talking about the minimum wage that’s now been established, and I think I heard you very proudly boasting of a 50-cent increase. You also referenced and said, “Workers deserve a living wage.” But I think you realize that, in this week—this is Living Wage Week—this is not a living wage. In many places in Ontario, and I think almost every community in Ontario, $15.50 does not constitute anywhere close to a living wage. We have communities in Windsor that have a living wage requirement of at least $18, London and Elgin is $18, Hamilton is $19, Brant and Niagara is $20, Dufferin and Waterloo is $20, and the city of Toronto is $23.15.

Can you explain to us why you were calling it a living wage when clearly it’s not a living wage?

This morning it is a great honour, as the member for St. Catharines, to recognize former MPP Jim Bradley, regional chair for the Niagara region. Thank you, Jim, for your 42 years of service to St. Catharines. Welcome back to your House, and thank you for coming this morning.

Also, I would like to welcome Ethan Gardnere, Anthony Coulter and Callum Robertson. And a special shout-out to Brock University in St. Catharines: Go, BUSU! Go, Badgers! Andrea LePage from Brock University—she’s a hometown student attending Brock. Thank you for coming. Welcome to your House, and thank you for your meeting yesterday.

Thank you very much, Speaker, and I thank my honourable colleague for the question. Yet again, you will see the NDP find any excuse to object to building houses. After the previous government failed the people of this province, we made a commitment to the people of this province. We will not follow their path. We will not let down the people of this province. We have a shortage of homes here in this province right now. We will have a further shortage if we don’t do something about it. After they failed—they held the balance of power for years. Was housing a priority, colleagues, for this government? Never. It took this Premier, this party to say, “We’re no longer going down that path.”

We will not let down the people of this province. We will build homes for the people. We will build. As newcomers come in, we will build the homes that they need. We will not let them down. We will find ways to make sure that the people of this province have a home to go to every night.

Interjections.

Whether it’s in Niagara, whether it’s east, west, north, in Toronto, the GTA, the people of Ontario will not be let down by this government, Mr. Speaker. We will build homes for them.

At the federal government’s recent announcement, with 500,000 new Canadians coming here—we will not let down the new Canadians that are coming here to look for homes, Mr. Speaker. We will not let down the previous generation.

We will expand the greenbelt. We will build homes in every corner of this province, because that’s what we promised to the people of this province.

Unlike the opposition—it doesn’t matter what the previous government did; they supported them along the way. With us, it’s a little different: We’re actually for housing in this province.

Interjections.