SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
September 26, 2023 10:15AM
  • Sep/26/23 11:20:00 a.m.

Again, it is worth noting that the changes we had anticipated making to the greenbelt that are no longer happening are not costing taxpayers a cent—unlike the Liberals, who cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. And what did the Liberals accomplish with the billions of dollars that they cost? Nothing. Their big accomplishment was that 300,000 jobs fled the province of Ontario. They called the north a wasteland. They said that Ontario should transition to a service economy and forget manufacturing. That is the legacy of the Liberal Party.

It was a Progressive Conservative government that actually brought in the Ministry of the Environment.

It was a Progressive Conservative government that protected the Oak Ridges moraine.

We’ll take no lessons from a party that opened up the greenbelt 17 different times. In fact, what are we doing? We’re protecting the greenbelt. We’re codifying it in legislation. We’re adding 9,400 acres to it—the largest increase in lands ever. And we’ll—

Interjections.

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  • Sep/26/23 11:40:00 a.m.

In fact, it was the Integrity Commissioner who took a look at that. I refer the member to page 142: “I cannot find that political donations were the basis for the decision to remove lands from the greenbelt. Accordingly, I find there was an objective basis for the decision”—the objective basis for the decision was, namely, a housing crisis. The Integrity Commissioner, actually, on page 140, referenced the fact that all political parties received donations from the exact same people.

The reality is, what we are trying to do is build more homes for the people of the province of Ontario, including in that member’s own community. That member is a member who voted against, of course, long-term care. She voted against new hospitals in her community.

Thankfully, there is a good Progressive Conservative member in that area who has brought more investment into Niagara, I think, than all of the other members combined from Niagara since, probably, Confederation. Thank you to the member. Thank you to Mr. Oosterhoff for the great work that he has done in bringing investment and jobs to his community.

We were just in Niagara Falls last week, and I can’t tell you how many people came to us and said, “Finally we have a government that cares about our region. Finally, there are members of provincial Parliament who care about our region.”

We have new hospitals going in. We have the Skyway being expanded. She, of course, voted against that. We have long-term care.

The best part of it is, colleagues, that when we break ground on long-term care—guess who shows up? The NDP. They show up, they want to take credit for it, but then they don’t tell their constituents and colleagues, “Well, we voted against it. We’re just here to take credit for it.”

Come on. You know full well what the job of a member of provincial Parliament is—it’s to bring investment to your community, and there’s only one member in that area who’s doing it; it’s the member for Niagara West.

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