On Monday, the Premier claimed Ontarians are 1,000% better now than they were when he took office in 2018.

We have an affordability crisis, a housing crisis, a health care crisis, and an environmental crisis. We have a government that’s wrapped up in scandals while Ontarians are struggling to make ends meet. The Conservative government has had five years to make things better for Ontarians, but instead they are only working to benefit their rich developer friends and donors. Life has gotten harder and harder for everyone else.

This government is solely focused on selling off and privatizing vital land and public services: the greenbelt, Ontario Place, highways, health care, and social services.

The greenbelt giveaway was never about housing. This government’s own housing task force stated that the goal to build 1.5 million homes is possible without opening up the greenbelt.

We are all elected to serve the people of this province, to make their lives better, but the Conservative government is withholding billions of dollars for health care, mental health and addiction care, social assistance, women’s shelters, and the list goes on.

We need ODSP and OW income rates at least doubled.

We need profit out of long-term care and home care so quality care comes first and seniors, our loved ones, can live with respect and dignity.

We need better, faster and more reliable public transit.

We need to respect Indigenous voices, concerns and consent.

Better is possible, and as New Democrats, we’ll continue to fight for better, because we believe in putting people over profit.

I rise today in this House to celebrate a truly remarkable milestone in Burlington’s history. This year, we celebrated Burlington’s 150th anniversary. This momentous occasion allowed me to reflect upon the rich tapestry of my community’s past.

Burlington has deep Indigenous roots that flow through the city’s history, giving way to a present community that is strong, enduring, diverse, spirited, resilient and full of culture.

This milestone is not just about looking back at the early pioneers and visionaries who laid the foundations of this great riding; it’s also a celebration of our accomplishments and a testament to how we’ve grown and how we will continue to evolve together to build a brighter future. From humble origins rooted in agriculture to the bustling commercial and cultural hub that my riding has become, the evolution continues as we forge an identity that is uniquely Burlington.

Call me biased, but Burlington is one of the best cities and ridings and is truly a wonderful place to work, raise a family and call home.

I rise today to recognize the amazing achievement of a local athlete in my riding of Perth–Wellington. Brooke Overholt, hailing from the beautiful town of St. Marys, made headlines over the summer when she competed at the world track and field competitions in Budapest, Hungary. She is the first athlete from Perth country to compete on the world stage. The St. Marys athlete ran 56.20 seconds in her women’s 400-metre hurdles heat at the 2023 World Track and Field Championships, finishing just five spots back behind the qualifying run for the semifinals. Even before competing on the world stage, she made headlines when she earned a bronze medal at WOSSAA, OFSAA regionals, OFSAA, and in 2019 she represented Canada at the under-20 Pan Am Games.

Brooke is not one to rest on her laurels. She is a true embodiment of the relentless spirit of our athletes. She now sets her sights on the greatest stage of all, the Olympics. She is working to improve her times so that she can compete for a spot on Canada’s 2024 Olympic team.

Her teammates describe her as a paragon of confidence and humility. In victory and defeat alike, she remains a class act and a shining example for athletes everywhere.

Brooke, know this: The entire community and the province of Ontario is behind you as you strive to compete at the Olympics in 2024.

It’s my pleasure to welcome, from the Ontario Autism Coalition, Michau van Speyk to the House this morning, along with a page from Ottawa West–Nepean, Kian Denissen. Welcome.

Yesterday, this government tried to bob and weave on questions of their integrity, but people still have many questions.

On September 14, 2022, the chief of staff to the housing minister, Ryan Amato, was handed brown envelopes from speculators requesting greenbelt removals at the BILD dinner. The very next day, Amato sought clarity directly from the Premier in a meeting the Premier conveniently “does not recall.” In fact, Ryan Amato texted a colleague that the Premier and his chief of staff were “very serious.” Can the Premier tell us what happened at this meeting?

The people won’t be satisfied with responses like that because one day after that meeting, which the Premier doesn’t recall, Mr. Amato informed the Ministry of Housing that they wished to initiate a site-specific review where three priority sites were identified to be removed from the greenbelt. Two of those sites were in the packages delivered to Mr. Amato at the BILD dinner.

In just three days, this government had moved from criteria-based selection to three site-specific properties accounting for 91% of the land that this government was trying to remove from the greenbelt.

Did the Premier ever discuss site-specific removals with ministers or staff prior to October 2022?

Interjections.

So I want to ask the Premier again: What happened at this meeting on September 15?

Curiously, a request for the Premier’s phone records during the same time period that the decision to carve up the greenbelt was made returned no records—no calls, no texts.

Is the Premier using his personal phone to conduct government business to avoid freedom-of-information requests?

I think that was addressed in the Integrity Commissioner’s report.

I think the Premier was very clear last week when he said that opening up the greenbelt was a mistake. That’s why we are introducing legislation that will not only protect the greenbelt but will ensure that it is protected for many, many, many years to come in a way that has never been done before.

Again, I draw the member’s attention to the report of the Integrity Commissioner himself—page 135, page 140, page 141, and page 142—where the Integrity Commissioner was crystal clear that the Premier’s office did not direct, nor was it responsible for, any of the lands coming out of the greenbelt.

You can’t pick and choose which parts of the Integrity Commissioner’s report you choose to believe. If you believe that the Integrity Commissioner has done a good and effective job, which I do believe, then obviously, the Leader of the Opposition should also accept those parts of the report where the Integrity Commissioner was clear that the Premier had no knowledge of what was happening with respect to the greenbelt.

On page 140: “I accept the purpose of the decision to remove lands from the greenbelt was to address the housing crisis.”

The Integrity Commissioner was very clear.

Last week, the Premier was also clear that he accepts responsibility for a policy direction that was not supported by the people of the province of Ontario. That is why we are restoring those lands to the greenbelt. That’s why we’ve added an additional 9,400 acres to the greenbelt. And that’s why, very soon, I will be coming with legislation put forward to this House that will guarantee the boundaries of the greenbelt not in regulation but in legislation.

That is why we have moved forward. The Premier was very clear last week; he accepts responsibility for a decision that the people of the province of Ontario were not in support of.

That is why we are restoring those lands to the greenbelt. That is why we’re adding 9,400 acres to the greenbelt. That is why I am coming forward with legislation to codify the boundaries of the greenbelt not in regulation but in law—a protection that has never been afforded to the greenbelt before. We’re getting it done. I hope they support us in that.

I have the pleasure to introduce some folks from Oakville here today. I’d like to welcome and recognize them here in the Legislature. We have Shawn Fang, Larry Gong, Daisy Yao, Eric Zhang, Jing Wen, and Jeff Mo.

We are honoured today to have a representative of the Randolph College for the Performing Arts. She’s the program coordinator for the youth dance program. She’s also a professional dancer in her own right. Her name is Carmen Leardi, and she happens to be my daughter.

Colleagues, it’s my pleasure this morning to welcome Benjamin Mubiru to the House. He has been my new EA for the last couple of months. Ben is a great fellow. He has worked in the Minister of Finance’s office.

Thank you for your great service to the people of Ontario, Ben. Welcome.

To reply, the government House leader and Minister of Municipal Affairs.

It’s my honour to introduce some visitors from Windsor and Essex county.

We have Mike Kessler, a client of the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County, as well as an incredible advocate for people living with dementia, and his caretaker, Karen Kessler.

I would also like to introduce the CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County, Sally Bennett Olczak.

I also have other guests I would like to introduce. It’s my incredible honour to welcome directly into Queen’s Park the chief of Caldwell First Nation, Chief Mary Duckworth; Larry Sault; Councillor Ian Duckworth; and Councillor Doug Heil.

Welcome to your House.

This morning, I would like to welcome Jordan Falkenstein, who is the former director of government relations to the Consulate General of Israel and the current head of Canada and Australia desk public affairs at Tel Aviv University.

Welcome back to Queen’s Park, Jordan.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Order.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing had the floor.

Just to be clear: The Premier is using his personal phone to conduct government business—on the record.

Speaker, we may not know what the Premier was texting or who he was calling at that time, because he won’t share that. But we do know that Mr. Amato was busy texting. On September 23, Mr. Amato sent a message to a fellow staffer: “I will call you in a bit. I have some clear direction ... On everything greenbelt and official plans bill. Just had an hour chat with Pat.” And then he continued—“timelines aren’t helpful but clear direction.”

Can the Premier tell us which Pat this was and what clear direction he gave to Mr. Amato?

To the Integrity Commissioner, the Pat in question was Patrick Sackville, the Premier’s chief of staff. So we’ve got the Minister of Municipal Affairs’ chief of staff seemingly relaying a conversation to the Premier’s chief of staff where he received clear direction on everything greenbelt just a week after receiving an envelope at a speculator dinner.

We know civil servants had proposed a criteria-based approach for removing these lands.

Back to the Premier: Who made the call to give these speculators preferential treatment instead?

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t know where the member has been. In fact, the Premier gave out his phone number here in the Legislature in 2018; it wasn’t at a dinner in 2022—he might have retold everybody again. He actually stood in this place, as Premier, and gave his phone number out to everybody. It’s in Hansard; it’s on the record.

Yes, he gets lots of calls from a lot of people, and it is a shocking concept for people when they can call and get the Premier on the telephone. Many of us in caucus have been on the opposite end of this—that you have to call somebody back, because he has been at Walmart doing some shopping, and he spoke with somebody, and they want some action from a minister or from a caucus colleague. That is the difference between this Premier and that member over there. We actually listen to people.

And it is exactly that type of leadership that saw the Premier last Thursday say, “I’m listening to people. We acknowledge we made a mistake. We’re returning those lands, and we will move forward with building 1.5 million homes.”

If she has lost confidence in the Integrity Commissioner, I invite her to put a motion in front of this House saying that. If not, then she can join with us in ensuring that we put policies in place that build 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario. In fact, she won’t be alone on that, because this is what the member for University–Rosedale said: “Some pockets of solutions I see: One is around increasing supply. We do have a housing shortage and it will require”—wait for it—“our government to provide incentives to open up land and change zoning rules in order to build more supply.”

I’m not sure what land the member for University–Rosedale was talking about. But the land that we opened up, people were not in support of, and that’s why—

At the same time, the Premier said last Thursday that we made a mistake, we’re putting those lands back.

He also said another thing—and this is where they can help. He also said that we will not stop in our quest to build 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario. I’m glad that we now have the support of the member for University–Rosedale to actually move on this commitment, like we are going to. I hope that the rest of the NDP caucus will follow the lead of the member for University–Rosedale and work with us as we move forward to build 1.5 million homes for all people in the province of Ontario and continue to grow our economy.

There is also another commitment that we made to the people back in 2018, and that is to get the economy moving; that is to build more homes across the province of Ontario; that is to fix the infrastructure, to improve our education system, so that we can move forward to build a bigger, better province of Ontario. We’re turning our backs on the policies of the Liberals and the NDP, the high-interest-rate policies that have put so many people out of the market for a home. We’re not going to do that. We’re going to get the job done for all families across the province of Ontario.

Having said that, we are going to double down. Do you know what we’re going to double down on? We’re going to double down on building a bigger, better province of Ontario.

Interjections.

This question is to the Premier.

Speaker, this government is refusing accountability at every turn. Yesterday, they denied our request for a Speaker’s warrant to compel testimonies from developers we know had undue influence on government decisions. They have refused to request an investigation from the Integrity Commissioner about ministers taking trips with developers with business before this House. But don’t worry; we will get answers for the people of Ontario. But it does beg the question—it truly does—is the scandal worse than we thought?

Why is this Premier avoiding accountability at every turn?

The Premier says he is very, very sorry and that the buck stops with him, but he continues to backtrack on any involvement he or his office may have had. They denied our call for a Speaker’s warrant and refused to request an investigation from the Integrity Commissioner about his minister’s trip to Vegas.

Why hasn’t the Premier requested the Integrity Commissioner’s opinion about his own minister’s conduct on the greenbelt and on the Las Vegas trip—because it tells a different story than this government is sharing with the people in this province.

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. The greenbelt land along the proposed Highway 413 belongs to many of the same donors and developers the Premier’s office favoured in his greenbelt disaster. The 413 is a mess, won’t deliver any measurable benefit to drivers, is a project delivering favours, again, to developer friends, and will cost untold, undivulged billions.

Will the Premier scrap this terrible project and also return those greenbelt lands?

The “Friends with Benefits?” article by the Toronto Star laid it out pretty clearly: The highway is a gift to powerful, mega developers who each own land along the proposed route. The highway is for them and not for the people, but the people will be on the hook for these untold costs again.

Again, will the Premier scrap this terrible project and return those greenbelt lands?

We are going to double down on making sure that we build a bigger, better province of Ontario that includes all of the people of the province of Ontario. We’re turning our backs on the Liberal and NDP agenda. We’re seeing the same agenda in Ottawa: high taxes, high spending, out-of-control debts and deficit, red tape, regulation, jobs fleeing. We’re turning our back on that, because do you know what it has led to? It has led to increased interest rates. Do you know what increased interest rates mean? Thousands of people who could have otherwise owned a home in the province of Ontario can no longer own a home. That’s what they stand for. We stand for something different. We stand for the people of the province of Ontario and giving them the homes that they deserve.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Since taking office, our government has recognized the importance of building a resilient manufacturing sector. That’s why, in July, we added more manufacturing jobs to our economy than all 50 US states combined.

Interjections.

Can the minister provide an update on some of the manufacturing investments we’ve welcomed since we last met in June?

Our government recognizes how important the manufacturing sector is to the success of our economy, which is why manufacturing employment is now at one of the highest levels since December 2008.

Can the minister tell us and tell the House about other recent manufacturing investments?