Questions?

Pursuant to standing order 50(c), I am now required to interrupt the proceedings and announce that there have been six and a half hours of debate on the motion for second reading of this bill. This debate will therefore be deemed adjourned unless the government House leader directs the debate to continue.

I want to thank my colleague for her very thoughtful comments on this huge bill. Evidently, she took the time to go through it and come up even already with some ideas for some amendments. She cleverly said that it’s a question of building up instead of building out; it’s not whether we build but how we do it.

She talked extensively about conservation authorities and green standards. She already thought about some amendments, and I know she doesn’t have the details of it, but I’d like to give her the opportunity to maybe talk a little bit more about the kind of amendments she would like to see the committee consider, when it goes to the committee, hopefully.

I want to thank the member from Beaches–East York for her comments today.

One of the most shocking things that I found online recently was the population growth in different ridings in Toronto between 2016 and 2021. All of the growth is concentrated in Etobicoke–Lakeshore, in my riding of Spadina–Fort York and downtown along the Yonge corridor all the way up to the north end. But what really surprised me is that most ridings in Toronto had declining population between 2016 and 2021. This bill is proposing some measures towards inclusionary zoning, which is something that the NDP has been asking for for some time, but how do we address declining population in the ridings inside Toronto?

I want to thank the member for her comments and her speech. She has a lot of municipal experience, and she did talk about garden suites. Oftentimes, depending on your municipality, there are different names for garden suites, and oftentimes people talk about the fact or they raise the element of tiny homes. But as a result, there are a lot of people who want to be the yes-bys, and then you have the NIMBYs. The yes-bys want to build these garden suites, or these tiny homes, on their property, but then they’re surrounded by these NIMBYs who do not want them to build this. This is going to obviously increase our affordable living supply.

I just wanted to ask, given her experience at the city of Toronto level, how she was able to get the yes-bys to agree to the garden suites, as opposed to the NIMBYs who disagree with them.

Something I heard about resoundingly during the election, and even before the election, from many constituents around Barrie and Innisfil is that we’re a growing population, and they were really impressed with the vision of this government. This came up time and time again in the last election—and the vision of just always focusing on affordability, as a government, but also on the very important topic of home ownership.

What we’re debating today really builds on our bold vision for the province, and that’s what is required in leadership—and a government that is stable and has someone like Premier Ford at the helm, with the bold vision he has, and that is, when we talk about affordable housing and we talk about building more supply and we talk about the next generation and filling all different demographics that need housing, there have to be policies and actions that match it. We’ve done that since day one. We committed to the people of Ontario that every single year our government is going to introduce an affordable building bill. Why? Because times are going to change and the information and the demographics are changing. Most recently, we got new census data, which means our policies have to be updated with the real-time data that we have in front of us, and if they’re not then most likely we’re not addressing everyone who needs the support and the help.

In 2019, we introduced More Homes, More Choice, and we embarked on a bold vision to bring more housing online to this province. We worked with all levels of government, worked with our municipal partners, and as a result, we’ve already seen the fruits of our labour. Because of that single bill for housing that we started when we hit the ground running in 2019, the province saw supply increase—over 100,000 housing starts in 2021 alone, the highest since 1987, a very formidable year for myself. I think that 1987 was a good year; I wouldn’t be here without that year, the year I was born. To put it into perspective, in 1987 a dozen eggs cost a dollar, and eggs today cost $3.59. That’s an increase of almost 359%. In 1987, milk cost 75 cents per litre. Milk today is $3.29, which is an increase of 339%. So when we talk about the need to build more homes and the fact that now, because of this government’s first bill on housing, we’ve seen the most amount of housing starts since 1987—we’re doing something about it. And that is before inflation took its record high and has hit all of our communities and people we represent and we hear from a lot in terms of what the cost of living is doing to all of our communities. Thankfully, this government had a vision back in 2019, and we got ahead of it in the sense of, “Let’s hit the ground running to tackle the issue of affordability and building homes,” which we did—and that’s just home ownership, a dream that many people have, that many immigrants who come to this country have.

We had the Minister of Finance talk about his proud Hungarian roots. All his family lived under one roof, and they had the proud dream of home ownership, which is no different from any family’s—including myself. We came as refugees from the former Soviet Union, and we were renters. When you come to Canada, depending on your immigration status, you don’t have much besides your name. You have no equity. You don’t have a line of credit. You’ve got nothing. So you’re really just trying to save up for the next thing you’re trying to do, whether it’s funding education for your kids or for putting a roof over your head or for the proud achievement of home ownership. I was lucky. Our family all lived together, and we went from being renters on Penetang Street in Barrie to becoming homeowners on Wallwins Way in Barrie. That was a new subdivision. We joined many first-time homeowners who proudly walked into a new-build home and were able to unlock the door to the dream of home ownership.

On the other side, in terms of home ownership and building homes, is rentals. When we came to Barrie, Ontario, with my family and my grandparents in the early 1990s, rent was a little more affordable. But now, in terms of the community I represent, the city of Barrie and Innisfil—in Barrie, we’re the sixth-largest rental housing market in all of Canada. This is the reason that we need more rental supply, and this is why we need more housing supply.

Again, going back to this government’s vision that we had from the very beginning, in 2018, with More Homes, More Choice: We saw the fruits of our labour, with more than 13,000 rental starts. They came to be in 2021, the highest since 1991—again, a formidable year because my family came in the early 1990s. This was all made possible because of the vision this government had very early on.

Now, today, we’re building on that vision. We understand that we need to build more homes and we need to keep up with the population and the new census data. In fact, just this last week, we had census data come out that said that in 2021, our landed immigrants alone was a 23% increase. By 2041, that’s going to be a 30% increase.

To put it into perspective, in 2021, when I said there was a 23% increase in landed immigrants—that’s the largest since Confederation. So what did we do back in the Confederation and post-World War periods? Well, we built a lot of homes. Many people said that here. And that post-Industrial Revolution resulted in a lot of different zoning policies. In fact, prior to the Industrial Revolution, we had very few zoning policies because we didn’t have the Industrial Revolution. As a result of that, we now have things like residential zoning and industrial zoning, because we learned from London, England and the United Kingdom that no one wants to live beside factories. There were a lot of issues with smokestacks etc. As a result, we had the development of zoning policy.

And here we are today. We could be in a very different spot today. For example, if we look at the history of zoning in Germany in the 19th and 20th centuries, they were more progressive, I would say, with their zoning policies. For example, instead of having a different array of different zoning areas, they really just had residential, mixed use and industrial, and one special sub-class, and that was it. And they allowed for, if you wanted mixed use, if you had a home and you wanted to put a business in it, no problem. As long as you followed the building codes, you could build it. But we have strayed far away from that. They had things like small-scale residential and exclusivity residential housing, which allowed you to build duplexes and allowed you to have small shops and small industry amongst houses. It allowed you to have hotels in civic buildings. And in exclusivity residential zoning in Germany, you were able to have density of all kinds.

What did that result in? It’s something that I hear the opposition talk about very often. It resulted in very inclusive communities, walkable communities where you could go to the corner store, where you could have everything. It was a very simplistic type of zoning.

But then we over-complicated it, over years and years, time and time again, and the result of over-complicating zoning and land-use planning and planning policies—it not only resulted in time; it resulted in costs. To put it into perspective in terms of costs, something that I hear about quite often from builders is, if you look at just a simple home that might be $428,000 or whatnot, you’re adding an extreme amount of cost to that home because of the needed permits, the needed zoning, and all the hoops you have to jump through.

That’s why we’re here today, and that’s what I wanted to start getting into. We need to build more homes. We need to make the process much easier for everyone involved. We have to address the missing middle. And, most excitingly, we need to build by transit stations so people can have amenities around them and they can have walkability or be near transit.

In the community I represent, for example, Innisfil, over 80% of our residents commute to get to work—80%. So when we’re talking about building near transit, it’s going to help a lot of people who can’t get that job locally. Of course, that’s another part of the solution that our government is working on when it comes to employment lands. Again, that’s the vision of this government.

But when it comes to building more near transit, the whole point there is not only to bring affordability to people and have that high density, but to allow people like the folks who live in Innisfil—instead of spending money on a vehicle, they’re already living above transit. That reduces their cost of living, especially when gas prices are going up. Of course, our government was elected on reducing gas prices, which helped a lot of people, but some people don’t have the luxury of buying a vehicle. So when you’re building transit-oriented communities, that not only helps them because now they’re able to find an affordable home, but you’ve got to reduce the red tape burden. If someone is living near a transit-oriented community, why do they need a lot of parking spots below that building? You’re only adding to the cost of that unit, which is going to actually trickle down to the individual who needs the affordable housing.

This bill does call on building more around transit. And it’s not just our government that’s saying that it’s going to be beneficial. If you have a look at the research—I was reading a paper by Ontario 360. It’s a policy think tank from the Munk school. It was a paper where they were talking about research by David Gordon at Queen’s University, who showed that two thirds of Canadians live in car-oriented suburbs, where the automobile is the primary mode of transportation.

The reason I mention this, Speaker, is because we have to build for all Canadians. We have to build communities where they’re going to need car transportation and those who need transit communities. That’s going to create a nice diversity in your community because you have the ability for people to use transit, which reduces the gridlock on our highways, and then those who need the highway to get to work, it allows for a smoother ride because now you’re diversifying in terms of where the population is going. And what does that add, Speaker? It adds to a better quality of life for people, increases the time they can spend with their family—something that no one can buy, Speaker, and that is time.

Certainly we respect all Ontarians, and our government will do everything we can to give them that great thing that is time, to lessen their commute, whether it’s our transformational transportation policies—and again, what we’re doing here today, which is building more homes and building them near transit routes so that people can get to their homes, get to work, and they’re surrounded by a community hub where they can get their local products very easily.

In Innisfil—I’m very excited—we have a transit-oriented development project called the Orbit, which is going to be doing just that. Of course, our newly elected mayor, Mayor Dollin—congratulations on your re-election. This is something that she is very excited about and has talked about quite a lot in many different media outlets, but she talks about how this project is not only just going to involve a lot of walkability, a centre where you can have child care, amenities, commercial spaces for people to start up their businesses, but again it has an added benefit of protecting farmland throughout Innisfil because we’re able to put our density into one part of the town of Innisfil. So it’s a win-win solution there.

I wanted to acknowledge again the vision of Innisfil and of course the new council that’s going to be executing this vision, but I wanted to quote the mayor of Innisfil on this particular transit-oriented development project. She said, “The idea behind the Orbit is to have a cutting-edge, future-ready city within our rural and small town atmosphere so we’ll be bringing benefits of” rural “living within our current community.” Innisfil Mayor Dollin said this on CTV’s Your Morning Show when she was interviewed on the project.

Again, this is a bold vision, but it wouldn’t be possible without this government’s leadership of these bold visions of creating different types of housing, the right mix, fixing the middle-middle and the vision of having transit-oriented communities. That’s one part of this bill. We talk about supply, but it’s not just supply, Speaker. It’s where you’re putting the supply, and I want to emphasize that: why the transit-oriented communities are important.

Going back to the need for growth, we talk about the bold vision of this government in this bill, which is to build 1.5 million homes. Why is that, though? It’s population growth, Speaker. Nearly 80% of the population growth for 2031 is going to be concentrated in 29 large municipalities, and that’s going to require all of them to grow. In the city of Barrie alone, the city I represent, their 2031 housing target would be approximately 23,000, and that is to meet the needs to have more attainable housing.

Of course, when we talk about supporting the needed tools that are in this legislation to expedite more growth and to grow to 1.5 million homes, I would say that this isn’t to replace our municipal plans, but it’s to make sure that we have the right action to work together and to accelerate our plans head-on, to work with municipalities to solve the overall housing issue. In addition to building the homes, having it in the right location by transit, we have to think about fees and taxes. I was mentioning earlier how fees, taxes and processes end up costing more to the price of a home.

Now, I was chatting with Sandy Tuckey, who is the executive director of the Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association. She summarized it quite well, and I wanted to mention some of her comments. On October 25, 2022—not that long ago—the Simcoe County Home Builders’ Association and the Ontario Home Builders’ Association supported the introduction of this bill. Why? Because, on average, Speaker, 25% of the cost of new homes is composed of government fees, taxes and charges. And who ends up paying these taxes, fees and charges? It’s the person who wants that dream of home ownership. This can add as much as $250,000 to the price of a typical single-family home. Again, if you’re in the market to buy a home and you’re thinking you’re going to get one price for your home, and then all of a sudden all these fees are put on top of it, it makes it unattainable. It’s like going to the grocery store: You’re going to the checkout and you know you’re going to get PST or HST, depending on the products you’re buying or the services you’re obtaining. But can you imagine if you received your bill—“Congratulations, you’ve been approved for a mortgage,” thankfully—and now there are all these hidden costs you have to pay? All these fees, all these extra surcharges, all these extra taxes.

If people saw the amount of extra fees, taxes and processes that are attached to their home, they would likely walk away from it. This is exactly what Sandy Tuckey was talking about when she talked about the importance of bringing this bill forward.

Paul Markle, the executive director of the Barrie chamber, is also very supportive of this bill, because it also addresses the folks who live in Barrie. He said, “With the soaring prices of rent and housing in Barrie, living and working in Barrie has become unattainable for many. This has a ripple effect on local businesses as they are unable to attract talent when potential employees cannot afford to pay rent where they are working. I have heard a lot about the struggles that local organizations and individuals have had with building in Barrie, and I’m sure in many places in the province. I am fully supportive of the More Homes Built Faster Act and I’m looking forward to seeing more houses built in this community.”

It’s not just Paul Markle who recognizes the impact this bill is going to have on local businesses being able to attract that talent. It’s also James Cheetham, the VP of operations for Linear Transfer Automation, as we’re trying to, of course, again, embrace the manufacturing might that is Ontario, and we have much of that in Barrie. He recognizes this, and I want to quote what he was saying to me: “One of our struggles is hiring young talent as our current housing market is difficult, if not impossible, for young people starting their careers. If we could increase the available housing in our area, this would help alleviate the high housing costs we are currently facing.”

So employers in our region recognize that the solution is things like this bill and previous housing bills that we have introduced in the past.

Even Ashley Polischuik, who I recently met with at a round table at the Barrie and District Association of Realtors—and this lady, I tell you, sits on every single board imaginable to bring more housing supply to Barrie. She is the chair of the Barrie not-for-profit housing group, a member of the Barrie and District Association of Realtors, a secretary for Habitat for Humanity, and a former member of the Barrie Affordable Housing Task Force. This lady is involved in everything, and I want to thank her for her constant feedback.

What she says about this bill is that “changes related to the housing supply crisis coming from Queen’s Park are positive and welcomed. Allowing laneway and garden suites, secondary and basement apartments on single-family lots, with a reduced parking requirement per unit, will assist in increasing the housing supply in the most economically efficient way possible. Homeowners can now add to the supply of housing, while increasing their own earnings through rental incomes to fight ever-increasing mortgage rates.

“The reduction in development charges for purpose-built rental projects, with a further reduction for family-sized, three-bedroom suites, will bring more builders to the table as developments will become more financially feasible, reducing soft costs in markets where the cost to build is continuously increasing.

“These changes, combined with the limit on third-party appeals at the tribunal, reductions in public meeting requirements at a municipal level and reducing the involvement on the conservation authorities in the planning process should help cut through the red tape barriers many builders, developers and municipalities are facing when aiming to get shovels in the ground and projects over the finish line.”

Speaker, this lady sits on every potential board imaginable to help with attainable housing in Barrie, and that is a quote from her. She sees the writing on the wall and sees this bold vision that our government is achieving. Whether you’re a new Canadian, whether you’re a student graduating from post-secondary education, whether you’re a senior looking to downsize, we want them to afford the next level of housing. We want them to be able to not only enter the rental market, but be a homeowner. That requires streamlining processes to reduce fees and taxes on people, coming up with interesting financial models like rent-to-own, and coming up with innovative housing like land leases. We’re doing it all in this bill.

It is now time for questions.

I’d like to ask the member from Barrie–Innisfil: Do you not see a strong public role in the delivery of new affordable houses in this legislation, or to address the need for affordable homes, something that would include new public investment in a new public home builder? Because the builders that we have now are not interested in building where there are no profits to be made. So do you not see an opportunity for the public sector to come in and say, “We need to build affordable homes, we need to build geared-to-income homes, we need to build homes for those who cannot afford homes”?

Questions?

I guess I’d preposition this with how my riding of Brampton North used to be a place people would move to find more affordable homes than they could find in Toronto, and in recent history Innisfil was actually a place where people from Brampton moved to find more affordable homes. But now, even homes in Innisfil are unaffordable and out of reach for many Ontarians. So I guess I would ask the member: What steps do you think we need to take, and what parts of this bill do you think will help make homeownership more attainable for those in Innisfil and those in Brampton?

I’m glad that the member from Barrie–Innisfil brought up the massive housing development, Orbit, in her community. Essentially, schedule 10 of this bill will force the taxpayers of Durham and York to pay for the construction of a Lake Ontario sewage solutions project: the former Upper York Sewage Solutions. I’m really curious to know how the region of Durham and the region of Ajax feel about having to pay for this infrastructure, on the backs of municipal taxpayers. I can’t imagine a scenario in which a province forces a municipality to build and pay for infrastructure that they may not necessarily need or want. So if this is truly a provincial bill that you’re proud of, then why doesn’t the province take responsibility and pay for it instead of dumping the cost on local taxpayers of the regions of Durham and Ajax?

I’ll tell you what’s in this bill. This bill is fixing the fact that we have a deplorable record in all of the G7. The average price for a home in Ontario is now approximately $1 million. And in Toronto—it’s the city with the largest amount of, again, housing increases. In fact, a recent Scotiabank economist survey came out with the fact that the fewest homes built per capita in all the G7 are those in Canada—and within that, the provinces that are at the worst of the pile are Ontario and Alberta. So when we talk about getting more homes online—this is what’s in the bill to help that happen.

We’re not ignoring things like natural heritage. In fact, we’re considering programs to offset development pressures on wetlands, that would require a net-positive impact on wetlands to help preserve them for decades to come.

I think it’s really important to talk about the things that are in this bill—and we’re really recognizing all the different mixes of housing we’re going to need.

Something I didn’t get to talk about, in our bill, is the fact—to embrace innovation; not only land leases, which I have in my community, but modular construction. Through the Social Services Relief Fund, we were able to actually announce more affordable units on Tiffin Street in Barrie, which is a modular build. There’s so much red tape in modular building, which makes it prohibitive to have availability of more attainable housing. So this is something that we have in our bill to, again, address some of the red tape when it comes to modular builds.

The town of Innisfil is leading this project. In fact, they’re having a consultation on the Orbit project tonight, as well. This builds on the consultations they’ve been having with the entire community, including the Indigenous community.

Speaker, when it comes to supporting more rentals and protecting renters, we put in Bill 184. What did the opposition do? They said no to the bill. We asked for more housing supply and we introduced more housing bills. What did this opposition do? They said no. We’re trying to build more transit-oriented development to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. What did this opposition do? They said no.

Speaker, this government will get affordable housing built today.

That’s why when we talk about the missing middle, for some people it might make more sense for them to build garden suites, because they have housing. It might make more sense for them to have secondary units. In fact, in Barrie, Ontario, alone, when we introduced the secondary suites policy in one of our previous housing supply bills, it actually led to more rental units brought online.

A colleague of mine who I know, Andrew Valler, who is going to be starting in the skilled trades come January to study electric engineering, was looking to move out of living with his parents, and now, as a result of the secondary suites policy, he is going to be able to live in his own apartment.

I was able to announce supportive housing like Lucy’s Place in Barrie, where we converted a motel to be able to bring people off the streets, to be able to have a roof over their head, have the dignity of their first home and be able to transition them into their next housing. And then, we were able to use the innovation of modular homebuilding to actually add to the second part of that phase of that project, to add more increased affordable housing.

Report continues in volume B.

I thank the speaker for her always-great comments, and again today. When we talk about the housing shortage, it’s usually a focus in the major cities, and of course this excellent bill has a number of targets for the major urban areas. But in the fantastic riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and in rural Ontario, there is also a need for additional housing, and Barrie–Innisfil maybe fits somewhere in between. I’m curious to ask the member what this bill does to encourage housing development in the rural parts of Ontario, as outlined in question 7.

Madam Speaker, it’s no secret that in Ontario we have a housing crisis. I’m pleased to see that this government continues to take the housing supply crisis seriously. That is why the government’s third housing supply action plan builds upon the success of the first two: More Homes, More Choice and the More Homes for Everyone Act.

My residents often say, “Oh, you’re already living in a house,” and I do remind them, “Yes, I do have a house for me, but I have two children. They’re growing up, and they will leave the house.” Along with that, I remember when I came to Canada for the first time, as a first-time buyer. And there are about 401,000 people who came to this country last year.

What I want to talk about right now to the member from Barrie–Innisfil, who is doing an incredible job, is that we know that adding more supply is the key to bringing costs down. This will help first-time buyers as well as seniors looking to downsize. So my question is—

The member for Essex is absolutely right. We want every child and youth to have a safe and stable and loving home, and families and communities to be supported and strengthened through preventative measures and services and early intervention. And we want youth in care to feel supported and prepared for the future.

That’s why we’ve embarked on the redesign of child welfare, through which our government is introducing new initiatives to improve the quality of care in licensed residential placements. These include developing a new framework for what residential care looks like; increasing and enhancing oversight and accountability of licensed residential settings; and adding 20 new positions across the province to support the management, inspection and oversight of the children’s residential services system.

Every child and youth deserves a safe, loving and stable home, and our government will continue to work to deliver that.

Dans ma circonscription de Windsor–Tecumseh, je suis heureux de savoir qu’un projet a été retenu dans le cadre du Programme d’appui à la francophonie ontarienne, c’est-à-dire le projet, Une diversité qui nous unit, de l’organisme Épelle-Moi Canada.

Est-ce que la ministre peut en dire un peu plus sur les objectifs du programme, et comment ce programme appuie les entreprises francophones et stimule la relance économique?

Ce programme—dont notre gouvernement a doublé le budget, qui est maintenant de deux millions de dollars—sert justement à appuyer le dynamisme des communautés francophones au niveau local et au niveau régional.

Le Programme d’appui à la francophonie ontarienne est une initiative centrale de la Stratégie de développement économique francophone, dont un des objectifs vise à encourager et à stimuler la relance économique francophone par le biais d’actions visant spécifiquement les organismes et les entreprises francophones.

La communauté francophone joue un rôle important dans le succès culturel et économique de notre province. Monsieur le Président, outre le Programme d’appui à la francophonie ontarienne, la ministre des Affaires francophones peut-elle nous en dire un peu plus sur la Stratégie de développement économique francophone?

Cette stratégie vise à encourager et à soutenir l’entreprenariat francophone, à augmenter le nombre de travailleurs francophones et aussi bilingues en Ontario. Et, monsieur le Président, nous allons continuer à mettre en valeur la francophonie ontarienne comme atout économique pour la première fois dans l’histoire de la province de l’Ontario.

Pursuant to standing order 63, your committee has selected the 2022-23 estimates of the following ministries for consideration: Ministry of the Attorney General, Ministry of Indigenous Affairs, Ministry of Government and Consumer Services, Ministry of Francophone Affairs, Ministry of the Solicitor General.

Report presented.

Today, people across the province will wear purple to show support and remind Ontario’s children and youth that the help and support they need is available. Every child and youth has the right to be safe and supported. This is the core message of Dress Purple Day.

We know the kinds of challenges that families can face are wide-ranging. Children, youth and families may be going through a season that could make them vulnerable, such as housing insecurity, addiction and mental health issues, and intimate partner violence. Our message to them on Dress Purple Day is: Know that you are not alone. Help and support is a phone call away, no matter where you live.

There are 50 children’s aid societies in Ontario, including 37 non-Indigenous societies and 13 Indigenous societies. They help connect children, youth and families to the local programs or social services they need to overcome the challenges they are facing. These could include family or individual counselling, housing assistance or parenting programs.

We all have a responsibility for the welfare of children and youth in this province. A key component of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act is that Ontarians must report suspected cases of abuse and neglect. Simply put, if you believe that a child or youth is or may be in need of protection, or if your family needs support, please contact your local children’s aid society. Children’s aid societies investigate all reports of child abuse or neglect and deliver child protection services, if needed, and support families to give them the tools they need where appropriate.

Children’s aid societies are our partners in child welfare delivery, not only on Dress Purple Day but every day. A key service they provide families is supplying information and community supports and prevention and treatment services.

When necessary, they form a holistic plan that helps make sure the family is supported and stable. A plan could include assistance from extended family, neighbours, friends or members of a faith community. If a child is First Nations, Inuit or Métis, members of the community could be brought in to help as part of the plan.

As you can see, we want families and communities to be strengthened and supported through approaches that stress prevention and early assistance.

As part of our Child Welfare Redesign Strategy, we know there is more work to do. And we are making changes. We’ve been engaging with societies who have this front-line knowledge to inform the changes. With the input of children’s aid societies and others, including representatives from diverse community groups across Ontario and youth with lived experience, we are modernizing child and family services to better focus on prevention and early intervention.

Redesigning the child welfare system includes creating safe, culturally appropriate and responsive services for children, youth and families in need. Our redesign work features investments in areas critical to making the child welfare system more culturally appropriate and responsive, such as:

—a $5-million annual investment for enhanced prevention-focused customary care for First Nations, Inuit and Métis, to help more children and youth to be closer to their homes, families and communities;

—almost $3 million to help kinship service and customary caregivers, those adoptive parents and caregivers who have obtained legal custody of a child who was in extended care at a children’s aid society;

—another $1.5 million annually to enhance community-based prevention and well-being initiatives for Black children, youth, and families;

—$800,000 in annual funding to support One Vision One Voice, a community-led program focusing on culturally appropriate services and anti-Black racism; and

—$800,000 for projects to improve outcomes for LGBT+ children, youth and families in the child welfare system.

We are also working on changing the system to make it more responsive, so that youth in care of a children’s aid society are better set up for success as they transition into adulthood.

I want to say a heartfelt thank you to children’s aid societies across the province for their contributions to this redesign and for their work every day to help vulnerable children be safe, grow up and succeed.

Together with the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, individual children’s aid societies, and local and provincial partners, we are strengthening families and communities across this province.

I encourage you to help raise awareness about Dress Purple Day in support of children and youth across Ontario, because Ontario’s future depends on the well-being of our children and youth, not just today but every day.

In the last few weeks, we have seen an increased number of crimes, especially ones involving firearms. In some of these incidents, criminals have deliberately attacked police. Just last week, police officers on duty in Scarborough had to escape near death from an active shooter. As well, with other recent tragedies involving attacks on our police, I know I speak for everyone in this House in conveying our heartfelt sympathy and support to the family members of slain police officers.

Speaker, my question is to the Solicitor General: What is our government doing to address the recent surge of violent crime?

Speaker, what is the Ministry of the Solicitor General’s approach to dealing with gang crime?

Under the previous government, the mining and critical minerals industries were not a priority, and Ontario’s economy suffered as a result. That is why our government needs to take urgent action to strengthen Ontario’s economy, meet our climate goals and secure good jobs for the people of Ontario by partnering with this sector.

Speaker, people all across Ontario know how crucial investments are to the mining industry and how vital it is to secure them. Could the Minister of Mines please provide an update on how our government has delivered for the people of Ontario as it relates to mining sector investments?

In the past, projects in the mining industry have taken decades to plan, assess and put into production. We all know these timelines are simply not good enough, especially if we expect to meet our climate goals.

Ontario’s mineral exploration and mining industry can be a global leader once again if our government steps up and delivers much-needed support.

Speaker, we have a significant opportunity to create thousands of jobs by opening new mines and expanding existing ones.

Could the Minister of Mines please provide concrete examples of how his ministry is cutting red tape and streamlining processes associated with mining projects, answering the call for urgent action?

Supplementary question.

The Minister of Finance can respond.

The House recessed from 1142 to 1300.

Report deemed adopted.

Ms. Dunlop moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 26, An Act to amend various Acts in respect of post-secondary education / Projet de loi 26, Loi modifiant diverses lois en ce qui concerne l’éducation postsecondaire.

First reading agreed to.

First reading agreed to.

My question is to the Premier. Ontario prides itself on its natural resources, which are protected by conservation officers, who are trained and equipped to handle poachers, high-risk arrests, search and seizures, and much more. These officers often find themselves in remote areas alone with little to no backup readily available.

For decades they have been requesting reclassification and higher pay in line with comparable positions like OPP officers. Why has the government not taken steps to rectify the issue and ensure that Ontario has the resources it needs to protect and grow the province’s natural resources?

These officers play a vital role in the continued protection of Ontario’s natural beauty and ensuring the safety of individuals who are enjoying Ontario’s vast resources. Attracting and retaining the best qualified conservation officers is a challenge with the ongoing wage discrepancy.

Does the government have a plan to recruit and retain conservation officers?

My question is to the Minister of Finance. Today the Financial Accountability Office released a very interesting report, their fall Economic and Budget Outlook. It details projected funding shortfalls of $40 billion across all sectors over the next six years: a $23-billion shortfall in health; $6 billion in education; $4 billion in children, community and social services—if you want to keep children safe, I would invest in them—$2.6 billion in post-secondary; and a $2.3-billion shortfall in justice. Meanwhile, the government will be sitting on $44 billion in unallocated contingency funds.

Will the government be transparent with the people of this province and allocate these contingencies to ensure that there are no painful program funding shortfalls? Answer to the people.

The FAO report confirmed that Ontario has the funding to invest in this province. Ontario is projected to run $25.3 billion in surpluses over the next six years. Despite this, the government thinks it’s acceptable to cry poor and hold wage increases for our lowest-paid education workers at 1.25%, or continue to enforce their destructive Bill 124, all while food bank usage hits an all-time high for children and for seniors in Ontario. These policy choices are unconscionable. They are irresponsible.

Will the government commit today to paying education workers a fair wage, repeal Bill 124—you can do it; you can pay those people what they deserve—and double the ODSP rates? This is about choices. This government is making the wrong choices for the people of this province. Do your job.

The supplementary question?