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.

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.

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.

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?

My question is to the Premier.

Hamilton city council and the people of Hamilton voted overwhelmingly to meet our housing targets within existing urban boundaries, but this government forced an undemocratic urban boundary expansion on Hamilton. Just as we saw with the greenbelt scandal, the ministry’s review of Hamilton’s official plan gave insiders preferential treatment. The Integrity Commissioner’s report revealed that developers were privately consulted on the urban boundary changes even before the city of Hamilton.

Instead of enriching favoured insiders, when will this Premier do the right thing and reverse the forced expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundaries?

This question is to the Premier.

Hamilton is currently exceeding its housing targets for this year despite the greenbelt fiasco. Hamilton city council and many organizations such as Environment Hamilton have been loud and clear in saying that we need both more homes in our urban centres and to preserve our farmland.

Will this government let Hamilton get on with its plan to build the new homes we need, stop creating chaos and enriching favoured speculators, and reverse the forced expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundary?

My question is to the Premier.

Report after report has stated that there’s more than enough land within existing urban boundaries to build the housing that we all know we need, yet this government is forcing those urban boundaries to enlarge. Do you know what’s going to happen then, Speaker? Some of the most fertile farmland in North America is going to be exposed to exactly the same speculators who are going to profit from the greenbelt.

It took two investigations and the resignation of high-profile ministers to make the Premier realize the importance of the greenbelt to Ontarians. What is it going to take to make him realize the importance of all farmland in this great province of ours?

I would like to thank the farmers of Ontario for uniting and telling this government how important farmland is.

When is the government actually going to realize that we need farmland to feed the cities? The people who are coming are going to need farmland. It’s the greatest gift we’ve ever been given.

Interjections.