To the Premier: In his mandate letter, the Premier directed the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to develop a policy for changes to the greenbelt, including swaps and contractions. Andrew Sidnell, the Premier’s former deputy chief of staff, told the Integrity Commissioner there was usually a “back and forth” between the Premier’s office—the PO—and the ministry when it came to implementing the priorities in the mandate letter. He said the PO would normally be the “senior partner” in this back and forth. The Integrity Commissioner was unable to find evidence of this normal back and forth with respect to the greenbelt project—something one would expect.

Did the Premier or any of his staff make a decision to suspend this normal back and forth, including the PO’s senior partner role, with respect to the greenbelt project?

Again, Speaker, if the member reads past page 6, she will get to the other parts of the report. In that report, again, the Integrity Commissioner said, “I have found that the Premier’s office staff were not providing such direction.”

The Premier has acknowledged that we made a mistake when we brought forward a policy that the people of the province of Ontario did not support. The Integrity Commissioner himself suggests, as we have said along, that the policy was driven because we wanted to do something immediately to impact the housing crisis across the province of Ontario. We want kids to be out of their parents’ basements.

The other day, I talked about a young family—his first child—and instead of being able to go to a home, he’s going to his bachelor apartment condo that he bought. That’s not who we are in the province of Ontario. We can do better and we will do better. But why are we there, Mr. Speaker? Because, as I said yesterday, the legions of doom and gloom brought this province to its knees. High interest rates are taking thousands of people out of the market.

We can do better. We will do better. We’ll continue to remove obstacles, and we’ll get the job done, not only for young Canadians but for all Ontarians who want the dream of—

In fact, what the Integrity Commissioner said is, “I have found that the Premier’s office staff were not providing such direction.” He made it very clear in the report that he was not providing such direction.

We made a public policy decision that the people of the province of Ontario were not in support of. We made that decision because we know that we are in a housing crisis, and we wanted to move fast to try to address that crisis. We made an incorrect decision. We’re returning those lands to the greenbelt, and we will focus on building homes in communities across the province of Ontario.

But you know what will be consistent is that member and that party will vote against every single initiative to build homes. The Premier just talked about it. They voted against subways. They voted against housing. They voted against long-term care. They voted against hospitals. This member here doesn’t want to build anything. For the love of God, this is the one member in the NDP who is asking a question about building anything?

You voted against everything—

Well, Mr. Speaker, I think the Integrity Commissioner is pretty clear when it came to myself and my office.

But what we’re going to do here—we’re going to build homes. And the students up in those chambers are going to remember this day because the homes that they’re going to buy in 15 or 20 years will be part of the 1.5 million homes that we’re building. We’re going to make sure that their families can afford a home. We’re going to make sure the young people can afford a home. The newcomers who are coming to our province—800,000 a year that we’re seeing—need a place to live.

Interjections.

Again, to the Premier: I just want to note, the commissioner was very clear that there were no records—highly unusual.

Assistant Deputy Minister Sean Fraser also told the Integrity Commissioner that it was usual and expected practice for political staff within the ministry to receive direction from the Premier’s office with respect to the details of a government priority. Mr. Fraser said, “In my experience, political staff work with political staff. They may be ultimately responsible to the minister, but granularity like this is something that typically is dealt with at a staff level.” Mr. Fraser said such direction would come from the Premier’s office.

Did the Premier or any of his staff make a decision to avoid leaving evidence of such direction with respect to the greenbelt project?

Interjections.