At the outset, let me just say that I will be sharing my time with the Associate Minister of Housing, the member for Elgin–Middlesex–London, and the parliamentary assistant, the member from Perth–Wellington.

Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to speak today on what has become a very, very important subject for all Ontarians—if not for all Canadians, frankly. We have seen, over the last number of years, a number of issues which have led us to a housing crisis not only in the province of Ontario, but very much across many parts of Canada. Since the outset of our government, back in 2018, we have talked about removing obstacles so that we could begin the process of unleashing the economy, but also of helping to ensure that as the economy began to grow and prosper, we could also ensure housing for the people of the province of Ontario.

So this bill here will, in part, help us. It is another step on the way. There have been a lot of steps, as I said. Each year that we have been in office, that we’ve had the honour of serving in office, we brought forward different proposals, housing supply action plans, which are meant to move and unleash that housing construction, but also very much to remove the obstacles which have become a fixture and have really blocked the construction of housing.

So this bill has a number of different parts to it—primarily, two really important parts, of course—which are an updated definition of affordable housing and some changes to the St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, which I know the associate minister and parliamentary assistant will be talking about in more detail than I am. There are also a number of other additional elements which are meant to consult, to help make the process better. We’ll be, of course, working with the Attorney General to look at how we can change the Ontario Land Tribunal to make it more responsive to both sides. It’s also an opportunity for us to work with our municipal partners to see if there are opportunities and advantages for them working through Supply Ontario to help them reduce costs.

So I just want to give a bit of context, again—I referenced this a little bit in a question the other day—on why we are so focused on building homes across the province of Ontario. I talked about how my parents, when they came here—my dad in the late 1950s and my mom in the early 1960s—that one of the bargains that they did when they came to this country—Canada was growing. It was prospering like never before, frankly. And when they came here, one of the bargains for them to leave their home in Italy and to come here was that they could build a better life for themselves and, ultimately, for their children. But one of the bargains that that included was that, if they worked hard, they would have the opportunity to have their own piece of the Canadian dream. For them, that meant home ownership. That has been the dream of many, many people for generations.

So when my parents came to this country, they did like so many immigrants did. My dad came; he came into Halifax, took the train and got off in Toronto, where he had a job working in a barbershop—a barbershop which still exists on the Danforth. My uncle had come first. A couple of brothers followed and a sister afterward. They all lived in one home that was rented out by my uncle first. They were all in this one home. It was on Dentonia Park. I’ve driven by it a number of times, and it’s hard to imagine all of them in this one home. But they did what so many immigrant families did; when one worked, the other would take the bed and sleep, and the other would go to work. They supported each other. They helped save money.

Each of them helped the other save money, and the first one to leave the home was my uncle. He settled on a home in Scarborough, on 26 Stevenwood. After that was my dad’s turn; he moved to another home not far from there, on Lombardy Crescent, in the riding of Scarborough Southwest. But that was part of the bargain: One at a time they moved out, and one at a time, they were able to get their own little piece of the Canadian dream, which was home ownership. From there, they were able to continue to contribute to ensure that their kids had a better life than they did. But again, that was part of the dream.

Now, we all remember, and we’ve all talked about it—at least in the context of Toronto—about wartime housing. I’m sure that’s the same description in many parts of the province of Ontario. As the troops were coming back, there was a huge demand for housing across Ontario, and we moved heaven and earth to make sure that there was a good supply of housing across the province. But they removed obstacles at that time in order to ensure that it could be done, Madam Speaker.

That, in essence, is what we’re trying to do here today. Now, there are a number of constraints. I will say this: We have seen economic growth unlike any time, frankly, in decades. I know the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade has been extraordinarily successful in helping to turn around our economy, bringing back thousands of jobs to the province of Ontario, bringing back billions of dollars of economic activity.

With that comes the need to bring people from across Canada and across the world to live and work and help us grow our economy. We are seeing people from all over come to Ontario because they want to take part in what is the economic growth that has been ushered in by this government under the leadership of the Premier and the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade: $25 billion in investment, just in the one sector alone. It is absolutely huge. I know the associate minister will talk about what that means to the people in his area, but the spin-offs are enormous.

As Minister of Long-Term Care, I was criss-crossing the province. We were opening up long-term-care homes. We were sod-turning in a number of different communities. One of the principles that the Premier said to us when we started this massive investment in long-term care was to make sure that we brought long-term care into small, rural communities across the province, so people could live and work in the communities that they helped build.

Very much what we’re hearing from a lot of these long-term-care homes in a lot of different communities is that they also will need the housing because the increase to four hours of care means a dramatic increase in the staffing that they will need in order to support long-term care. The same goes with our redevelopment of the hospital sector. It is a very real need, not only in our largest cities but across the province of Ontario.

Frankly, as much as it is a challenging problem to have, it is also very much a good problem to have. It is a good problem to have because people want to come to Ontario to participate in what is, really, a reenergizing of the province, as I said, like we have never seen before.

I just want to say one thing before I move on to another topic: We talk a lot about people coming from around the world to be here to participate. It’s something that the Premier talked about a lot, that we have to make sure that we have housing for the people who want to come here to build a better life. We heard a question last week from a member of the opposition suggesting that perhaps we should ask the federal government to slow down immigration so that we could deal with the housing crisis, Madam Speaker. I absolutely flat-out reject that premise, as has the Premier, because to be clear, if we would have thought that back when my parents came, I wouldn’t be here. Many of the members on this side of the House, and presumably on that side of the House, would not have been here. We cannot build a bigger, better, stronger province of Ontario without people coming from around the world to help us to do that. So it is also for them that we make these investments in building homes and untangling the burden that has gotten in the way of building homes across the province of Ontario.

I just want to also really briefly speak to some of the other challenges that we’re seeing in the homes sector. I talked, again, about this really, really briefly in a question in question period. There is no doubt, there is absolutely no doubt—and I’m sure you’ll agree, Madam Speaker—that the high-debt, high-tax, red-tape policies of the federal government have led to a challenging environment for people across this country. You will know, Madam Speaker and, as I said, I’m sure you’ll agree, that we had said right from the beginning in 2018 that a carbon tax would be a challenge for the people of Canada and an extraordinary challenge for the people of the province of Ontario. We have fought that tax tooth and nail because we knew it would lead to poor outcomes for our province.

Now, under the great leadership of the Minister of Environment, we have seen Ontario’s greenhouse gas emissions on the back of our nuclear program—we are continuing to be leaders. But the carbon tax has caused out-of-control inflation, high taxes and big spending, which is leading to higher interest rates and is putting thousands of people out on of the market for homes. We certainly can’t allow that to continue. So I wanted to just suggest that we will continue to fight that as well, because it’s not just about getting shovels in the ground. There’s no point in getting shovels in the ground if people can’t afford to buy the homes that you are building in communities.

And it is really one of the reasons why we updated the definition of affordable housing, because we want to do it not only as part of what the housing market is in a local community as the definition has been, really, since 2005; we wanted to go one step further. Recognizing the high-tax, high-interest-rate policies of the federal government were having a dramatic impact on people across the province of Ontario, we knew that we had to change that definition of affordable housing to also include income. This is something that we worked very closely with our partners on, and it will vary from community to community.

Median income in Toronto is certainly higher than it might be in Kawartha Lakes or in other parts of the province, so we’re going on a community-to-community basis to see what that means and to ensure that people in every part of this province can participate, whether it’s your first ownership of your first home or in the rental market. Because, let’s not forget, it’s not just about home ownership; for many people; it’s about getting their first apartment. More often than not, that is the first step that leads, eventually, to home ownership.

We saw that, again, the continued red tape and obstacles that were in the way created a rental housing crisis across the province of Ontario as well. And we are seeing, because of the changes that this government has made since 2018, people come back into the rental housing market like never before, and by that, I mean the builders. They’re coming in and they are building purpose-built rental housing, and we have the highest starts that we’ve seen, I think, in over 15 years. That is really, really good news, and it is in all parts of the province.

But that is not to suggest that the work is done there, because there is still a lot of work to do on that front, Madam Speaker. But I have been very, very encouraged by what we’re seeing on that side.

At same time, the changes that we’ve made so far with respect to the previous housing supply action plans have led to the highest housing starts that we have had, also, in 15 years. So it is no coincidence that when you remove red tape, when you remove regulations—out-of-date regulations, as the Minister of Red Tape Reduction has been doing—it brings people back into the market. It brings people back into the market. But it’s also, again, about taxation, right? It’s about taxation.

Now, I really was encouraged—I have to say this. I know, gosh, for years, we had been struggling with a federal government that just did not seem to understand we were in a housing crisis. I will say that I am optimistic with the new federal Minister of Housing, Minister Fraser. He seems to be prepared to help remove obstacles, even if the rest of his government is not. I am very much looking forward to working with him.

In fact, as you will recall, Madam Speaker, we brought forward, in our last year’s budget, that we wanted to remove the HST from purpose-built rental. We knew that that would be an opportunity to unleash housing starts across the province of Ontario and another boost, really. Now, this was a promise, of course, that the federal Liberals had made in 2015 but that we could never get actioned. We could just never just get action. We needed them to remove the GST; we would remove the HST. We’re moving on our own.

I will give Minister Fraser credit. Having coffee with him in Windsor, talking about how important this was to the province of Ontario and suggesting that we were prepared to move on our own, he was able to break the logjam that had been in front of him, his government since 2015, and was able to get that done so that more provinces could unleash this opportunity.

But what really was important, I think, on that, was the acknowledgement from the federal government that cutting taxes will help unleash the economy. That is as much as it is important—

Interjections.

Yes, it really is. Right? Think about that for a moment, Madam Speaker. There was resistance the entire time that they had been in office to eliminating a tax, which we believed, if we eliminated that tax—because Progressive Conservative believe that. We believe that if you eliminate taxes, you help unleash the economy. And do you know what that brings in? That brings in more revenue so you can support the programs that are vital to the people of the province of Ontario.

But think about how important it was, that acknowledgement. I give Minister Fraser credit. Even if the rest of the federal government is not on side, I give him credit for recognizing that by reducing taxes in this instance, we could see more housing starts across the province of Ontario—purpose-built rental housing. And that is a huge acknowledgement.

Again, I will say very vocally and in a very public fashion that that same spirit of tax-cutting, I think, would benefit the entire country if we looked, for instance, at the carbon tax and some of the other taxes that are standing in the way of us really tackling this housing crisis not only across Ontario, but across the country. I am very heartened to see that in other parts of Canada, they are starting to follow some of the things that we have done.

We’re starting to hear it more often, building houses around transit. We call it transit-oriented communities, but we’re starting to hear about it more and more often, that other jurisdictions are doing that. We’re hearing about British Columbia, how they have now set housing targets for their larger communities. Of course, we have done that, and that’s something that we have championed for a long time, but there’s no point in setting a housing target if you don’t give your communities the opportunity to succeed. So that is a very real part of what this is.

Now, on top of that, you will recall we brought in the Building Faster Fund. The Building Faster Fund is another tool that is put on the table for our municipal partners who not only meet their housing targets, but if you exceed the housing targets—and we want everybody to participate. There should be no community across the province of Ontario that isn’t willing to participate—and frankly, Madam Speaker, they are willing to participate. They are willing to participate. We’re hearing this from our partners across the province who are reaching out to me, each and every day, saying, “We want a housing target. We want to be able to participate and help provide housing for the people in our community.” I’m hearing from a lot of communities that are saying, “Look, we’re bringing jobs and economic development into our community for the first time.” Lower energy prices and the work that the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade is doing have helped unleash the economy, and people want to participate.

For the first time, we’re seeing people staying in communities that they would have otherwise left. I look at southwestern Ontario and the extraordinary work that our farmers are doing, the greenhouse growers in that community. They need housing to support what is an incredibly important part of our economy. The tourism industry, responsible for billions of dollars of economic activity—all very important and part of the reason why people want to come to the province of Ontario.

So at its heart, Madam Speaker, this is another step in the way of eliminating obstacles to building more homes across the province of Ontario. It’s not the final step; let me be very, very clear on that. It is not the final step, just like none of the other bills that we’ve presented have been the final step. It is another step. There will be more to come.

But I can tell you this, Madam Speaker, that unlike the opposition, who were in government for 15 years, we will not let the people of the province of Ontario down. We will meet our goals, we will build 1.5 million homes and we will ensure that the next generations of Ontarians, those who are living in their parents’ basements right now, have the opportunity to realize their Ontario and Canadian dream, like so many generations did before.

With that, I will yield the floor to the associate minister.

Thank you very much to the member for the question. The answer is simple: It is another in a series of bills that we’ve put forward to eliminate red tape and remove obstacles. The member is absolutely correct; it was the bargain that people made when they came to this country: You work hard, play by the rules and you will have the opportunity to succeed. But after 15 years of Liberal and NDP mismanagement of the economy, they’ve forced us into a housing crisis. We are untangling that mess.

We have one more mess to untangle, and that’s the federal government’s refusal to eliminate the carbon tax and to help us remove obstacles federally so we can get not only this crisis resolved in Ontario, but across Canada.

As you know and the Premier highlighted a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Massoudi is no longer employed by PC caucus services.

As I mentioned, the Premier highlighted a couple of weeks ago in Niagara Falls that that contract had ended and Mr. Massoudi is no longer working for PC caucus services.

Mr. Massoudi himself, I’m told, has never been registered to lobby the government. If she has a complaint, I would suggest that she take that up with the Integrity Commissioner and I’m sure he will investigate that further. But as I said, he’s no longer employed by PC caucus research services.

The slogan “for the people” isn’t just a slogan for us; it is at the core of what we do. Everything that we do, since 2018, has been about advancing the people of the province of Ontario, unleashing the economy. Now we’re going to tackle the housing affordability crisis that they helped create with the Liberals. It’s about doing what’s right for the people of the province of Ontario. This Premier is not going to stop doing that. This caucus won’t stop doing that. The only people getting in the way are the opposition and their partners in the Liberal Party.

Interjections.

I’ll tell you what happened in the last election: We went to the people of the province of Ontario and we said that we’re going to continue to unleash the power of the economy of Ontario. Do you know why? Because it’s not only good for the people of Ontario; it’s good for all of Canada when Ontario succeeds. That’s why people from Alberta are here: because they want to see what we’re doing, and it is good for all of Canada.

So I tell the member opposite, take a look behind you. There are so many fewer NDP members in that caucus. Do you know why? Because the people of the province Ontario put their faith in a Progressive Conservative government to continue to build the economy, to tackle the housing affordability crisis and to continue a bigger, better, bolder Ontario.

Interjections.

We said, in 2018, colleagues—remember when we said that a carbon tax would hurt the province of Ontario’s economy? What did they say? No. We said federal policies of high taxes, red tape and the carbon tax would hurt the Ontario economy. They said no, and they doubled down to support the federal Liberals.

You know what we’re going to do? We’re going to fight it every step of the way. We’re going to continue to cut taxes, continue to cut red tape, because we don’t accept high interest rates that are what happens when you do all the things they want to us do. It takes too many people out of the economy and won’t—

At the same time, we are focused on what matters to the people of the province of Ontario, and that is growing the economy. There is no doubt—there is no doubt that we made a public policy decision that was not supported by the people of the province of Ontario when we suggested we would open up the greenbelt to expedite housing. We accept that responsibility, Mr. Speaker.

What we will not accept is the opposition’s continued obstruction on building new homes for the people of the province of Ontario. You know what? People want out of their parents’ basement. They want to have a home for themselves so that they can build bigger, better opportunities and futures for their families. We’ll remain focused on that. We’ll get the job done, Mr. Speaker.

It’s just the opposite, Mr. Speaker. Not only did we accept the 15 recommendations of the Auditor General; we are going even further by ensuring that the boundaries of the greenbelt are codified in law, something that has never happened before.

He talks about integrity in government. Look, we are building a bigger, better, stronger province of Ontario. But when he says about the oath that they signed, I wonder if the former member from Brampton would feel the same way. You remember Kevin Yarde, right? You remember Kevin Yarde. I wonder what the former member from York South–Weston might think about your integrity pledge over there, Mr. Speaker.

I’ll tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to continue to focus on what matters for the people of the province of Ontario, and that’s building a bigger, better, stronger economy that brings everybody into that prosperity, Mr. Speaker, because you know what? We want kids out of their basements. We want them in a home of their own. We want them to help build a better Ontario for future generations. If that’s not what our job is, then what else is it to do here, Mr. Speaker?

In fact, what we’re doing is highlighting for the people of the province of Ontario that this government is focused on their priorities. Housing is a priority not just for Progressive Conservative voters, but it’s a priority for all Ontarians. Regardless of what side of the House you come on, you should be focused on that.

Mr. Speaker, we know that the NDP and the Liberals have voted against every single measure that we have put on the table to help unleash the housing sector in the province of Ontario. In fact, it has literally taken us five years to undo the damage that was done by the Liberals, supported by the NDP. And it’s going to take us still even more, because we’re going to be bringing even more bills forward to help ensure that we can get homes built in communities across Ontario, who are calling us and saying that they want to participate.

I don’t know why the NDP are against—well, I do know why the NDP are against building homes, because it’s the same thing: They want people to be dependent on government. We want people to be able to flourish on their own with the support of the government when they need it. That’s the difference between us and them.

But here, it comes down to one thing: Over and over and over and again, tax, spend, doom and gloom. What we’re going to focus on is building Ontario stronger than it was before. We’re going to be working with those businesses that want to invest here, the people around this country who are looking at Ontario and saying, “We need you to continue to prosper,” because it’s not only for the people of the province of Ontario; it is good for all of Canada when Ontario prospers.

We will not be deterred in our mission to build more homes, to get kids out of their parents’ basements so they can have all the same benefits that we have had. Only the NDP want to keep them in the basements, and of course the Liberals will help them do it.

I was just in Ottawa, actually, last Thursday, speaking with Mayor Sutcliffe, and he is every bit as excited as we are to help build more homes in his community because he understands how important it is. Now, the one thing he did say to me is that federal government policies are hurting his city. There’s not a return-to-work in a lot of instances, so it’s really hurting the people of downtown Ottawa. So we’re going to do our part to ensure that Ottawa prospers, that Ottawa grows. We have incredible members—the member for Nepean and the member for Carleton—who are helping every single day.

Despite the fact the member opposite does nothing to help us, we’re building long-term care homes, we’re building transit, we’re building transportation, we’re making incredible investments in Ottawa to help the city grow, Mr. Speaker. I hope he’ll get on board and help us do the same.

As I just said, look, the city of Ottawa remains in control of when or if those lands will be developed or serviced, for that matter. But here again is another question from the opposition, from the Liberals, who for 15 years put obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in the way and led us into a housing crisis.

But I know why they’re having such trouble, right? Because this Minister of Finance cut taxes for purpose-built rentals. Do you remember when he did that? And what did we say? We said to the federal government, “You have to come on board. You have to help us by matching that with a GST cut.” But we know Liberals hate to cut taxes, but thanks to one person in the Liberal government, Minister Fraser, they finally had to admit that cutting taxes means improving an economy. Now, they did it only once, and that’s because of the leadership of this Minister of Finance.

We’re going to work with Alberta and every other province to cut taxes for all Canadians to unleash the economy so that everybody can participate in the Canadian dream that they took away.

[Inaudible] that the NDP ironically voted against and now try to take credit for. One of the great things that we’ve been doing since we got to government—again, after 15 years of destructive Liberal government where they refused to build long-term care. They didn’t add to our medical schools, Mr. Speaker—

Interjection.

Interjection.

Applause.

I’ve been listening intently to the comments made by the members opposite, and I appreciate them, really, because I had actually forgotten about the—not forgotten; I shouldn’t say that. It had been out of my memory—about the scandals that were predominant in the previous Liberal government with respect to Ornge, and the gas plant scandal. I appreciate the members opposite for refreshing this House on that.

The members opposite talked a lot about, what was the motivation and why did we do this, but I wanted to say this first and foremost: I obviously have committed to and will be bringing forward legislation that will protect the greenbelt through legislation. What does that mean? Obviously, currently, the greenbelt can be changed through regulation and not through legislation, meaning that since its inception governments are able to bypass the House in order to make changes to the greenbelt. We will be making changes and ensuring that legislation is brought forward to codify the boundaries of the greenbelt, and I will be doing that as soon as possible.

I will go a step further by ensuring that we add the 9,400 additional acres to the greenbelt that we had previously talked about, including the Paris-Galt moraine, which I know is something that many people had talked about preserving and protecting for a long period of time, but it had never been done in the province. We will be doing that.

A lot of time has been spent by the opposition explaining to us the need to have a select committee, and I certainly appreciate hearing from the members opposite why they believe a select committee should be brought forward. Let me just say this: In their own comments here today, they show why a select committee is actually not needed and why we will be voting against that.

The members opposite talk about what happened during the Liberal time in office with respect to Ornge, and they talked about the gas plant scandal. You will remember, Madam Speaker, the members themselves have talked about the cost to taxpayers. They talked about the loss of faith and trust in the then Liberal government. The members opposite talked about how that impacted their communities, and the extraordinary work done by Progressive Conservatives to extract that level of accountability from them. But one of the hallmarks of that and one of the reasons why a select committee was so important is because the government of the day refused to acknowledge that it had made a mistake.

Madam Speaker, the Auditor General reported, and the government has accepted all of the Auditor General’s recommendations, full stop. Every single one of those recommendations, the government has acknowledged, and we are acting on all of those.

We are going a step further, and we are ensuring that we codify the boundaries into legislation.

The Premier said it on behalf of all of us, frankly—we made a mistake. We acknowledge that mistake. We thought that there would be broad public support in order to build housing as quickly as possible by accessing the greenbelt. That was a mistake for which we apologize.

But make no mistake that we are completely focused on ensuring that we can build 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario. We will not be deterred in that. Whilst we acknowledge that it was a mistake to consider the greenbelt lands, we do not for one moment believe it a mistake to continue to focus on building homes for the people in the province of Ontario, and I’ll get to a little bit more on that.

Specific to the request for a select committee, Madam Speaker, and again, the member for Toronto–Danforth and the member for—forgive me; Algoma–Manitoulin?

A vast majority of their speech highlighted the challenges of those two scandals in the Liberal government. But in the final analysis, the government of the day refused to acknowledge that it had made a mistake—we did. But the opposition NDP, at the time, did nothing. In their speeches, both of these two members talked about how horrific those two scandals were to Ontarians. They talked about their communities. They talked about the billions of dollars that were actually spent and wasted on the gas plants. They talked about the impact it had during an election. They talked about the fact that it drove a Premier out of office. But when Progressive Conservatives went to act on those two reports—not once but twice tabling motions of non-confidence in the government—how did the NDP vote? They voted to keep that government, which they say is one of the most corrupt governments in the history of this province, which they have been talking about now for about 40 minutes. They voted to maintain that government in office.

Progressive Conservatives, at that time, were clear. They wanted that government out of office and defeated because of those two scandals, which the government refused to acknowledge were actually even a problem—those two scandals which directly cost taxpayers billions of dollars.

The member for Nickel Belt and the member for Toronto–Danforth talk about the success of those two select committees, but what they fail to talk about is their failure to hold the Liberals accountable for those two scandals.

So specifically on the creation of a select committee, I say to the honourable members, in this instance, it is not required because the government has acknowledged it made a mistake. The government has heard from the Auditor General. The government has accepted all of the Auditor General’s recommendations, and the government will move one step further to ensure that the greenbelt is protected. We will go even further. We will add additional lands to the greenbelt because we know how important it is that we do it.

In her message, the Leader of the Opposition talked about how important affordability is to the people of the province of Ontario. We’ve seen this a million times from the opposition, haven’t we, colleagues—it’s say one thing, but do something else.

The member opposite talks about the motivation for doing this, and I think it really speaks to the affordability question that the Leader of the Opposition talks about. The motivation was to build homes for people who can’t otherwise afford them. Do you know why they can’t afford them? Because we’re not building enough homes. Why are we not building enough homes? Because of the obstacles and the red tape that was put in the way by the Liberals and NDP over 15 years—full stop. It goes further than that. It’s not only red tape and obstacles that they put in the way. Not only did they have the opportunity, between 2011 and 2014, to vote the Liberals out of office so that we could address some of these problems—in their own words, two horrific scandals—in select committees to review those scandals. And what action? Nothing. But they continue to vote for policies which take money out of the pockets of the people of the province of Ontario.

We’ve talked about this a lot. One of the first things we talked about was a carbon tax. And they lost their minds.

The member for Toronto–Danforth talks about affordability. This is a member who supported a policy that saw our electricity rates skyrocket. This is a gentleman who is singularly unconcerned with the fact that millions of Ontarians had to choose between heating and eating because of the policies that he supported then and that he continues to support now—policies that we are fighting against. That is the record of the NDP, in co-operation with Liberals.

When we said we had to get rid of a carbon tax, what did they say? No. They said it would have a huge impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Do you know what has impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Our nuclear fleet. Do you know who is restoring our nuclear fleet? It is this government. Who is against that? It is the opposition who is against that.

Think of what the carbon tax costs us. Do you want to talk about—

Interjections.

The members opposite are screaming and hollering. Thankfully, the mikes don’t pick up what the opposition are screaming and hollering about—their support for additional taxes for people. But that is no surprise. That is at the core of what the NDP are—it is, in their estimation, that government can do a better job than individuals on deciding how to manage their own wealth and resources.

I talked about when I was at Walmart last week, and I ran into Carol, who is a local—

Interjection.

What Carol was saying—and the reason I remember Carol is because she is from a local farming family, and she was highlighting for me the high costs of produce. Do you know what she said? The costs were directly associated with the fact that there was a carbon tax. Fuel has gone up. The fuel in the tractor to plant the crop has gone up. Harvesting the crop has gone up. Fertilizer costs have gone up. Transportation of her crop to the store has gone up. People driving to the store to buy goods has gone up. Do you know what that creates? That creates hardships for the people of the province of Ontario.

So when the Leader of the Opposition talks about affordability for Ontarians, I say you cannot even begin to talk about affordability until you address the one tax that is costing all Canadians—forget about just Ontarians—on every single thing that they buy. That is what a carbon tax does.

When we brought forward tax reductions for the people of the province of Ontario, to put more money in their pocket, they voted against those measures. So when you talk about putting more money in the pockets of people, they vote against it. But when the Liberals brought forward more spending programs that took money out of people’s pockets, they were supportive of it. In fact, despite the fact that we had two horrific scandals under the Liberals, in a minority government in which they held the balance of power, they voted to keep the Liberals in office, despite the fact that our economy was sinking. We saw our—

Interjection.

That is the legacy that they’re screaming and hollering their support for, and somehow, they expect people to believe that they are the guardians of affordability. It gets even worse than that. It’s not even just that.

When we’ve brought forward measures to help build jobs and the economy—like the mining sector. We have talked about mining for how long in this province? We’ve talked about the Ring of Fire, we’ve talked about northern Ontario for how long in this province?

The Liberals called the north a wasteland—

But when we brought forward measures to help unlock the vast potential of northern Ontario, to make our mines work better, to provide additional investments—the member for Sudbury, who sits here and claps for his leader, who talks about affordability, voted against those measures that would clearly help the people in his own riding. Thousands of jobs and opportunities—the member for Sudbury gleefully sat on his hands, hoping that nobody would pay attention or notice that he was voting against the workers in his own riding. But he’s paying attention now, because you see how uncomfortable he is.

It’s not even just me who suggested that the NDP are constantly on the wrong path. The people of the province of Ontario have reduced the Liberals to non-party status in two elections. In the last election, we heard from the NDP—you remember this, colleagues, before the election, when they formed government. The results of the last election actually were just the opposite.

Interjection.

The member says I’m reaching. I’m reaching because there are Conservatives over there; there are far fewer NDP. But that’s not the point. Do you know why there are far fewer NDP? Because they have never voted for measures that help build housing. They have never voted for measures that help put money back to the people of Ontario. They vote against measures that would get people moving around more. They vote against transit. The member for Toronto–Danforth talks about building transit but votes against it.

The members opposite talk about building where land is available, but some of the members opposite have already told me that they feel their community has already played enough of a role in building. Well, I say to them very clearly that, no, nobody has played enough of a role in building homes for people. It is an absolute that we must build more homes for the next generation of Ontarians. Every community will play a role in helping us do that, and every community across this province, frankly, is excited at the prospect of having the ability to participate in doing that.

I have heard from small communities in northern Ontario who have said to me, “We can build five or six homes, and we want to be a part of it”; I’ve heard from larger communities that have said that they can do even more.

I’ve heard from communities that say, “We need more long-term care in our riding,” and we’re going to deliver.

At the same time, we have been very clear—they have voted against it—we are going to build homes around the transit infrastructure that we’re building. This is one of the recommendations of the Housing Affordability Task Force that they talk about and that many of them are so terrified of now. They’re very afraid of that because we will come through; we will build housing across our transit systems.

It is a much larger transit system, you will know, Madam Speaker, because we are making significant investments that have brought two-way, all-day GO trains, for instance, to different parts of the province that never had them before. I’m proud of that. I think it’s very good news for the people of the province of Ontario that we’re doing that. But it also gives an opportunity for people in those communities to live by transit corridors, so they don’t have to drive cars. They can get to where they have to work without getting in a car and driving. The NDP is opposed to that.

The NDP, actually, is even opposed to measures that would see the cost of transit and transportation cost less. Let’s unpack that just for a second, because it’s important when you talk about housing affordability and why we are voting against this motion. Somebody in my riding—frankly, I don’t know if the NDP have ever held a seat in the 905, so I’m going to help explain to them some of the realities of 905, up in York region, because I know the member for Oshawa is about to say it’s 905 there. In York region, you can get on a bus or you can get on a GO train and you’ve got to pay; you get on the TTC and you’ve got to pay; or you could go to Mississauga transit, and you’ve got to pay for the GO train in Mississauga and Brampton; you might go to Durham region. The NDP think that that is a good use of taxpayers’ money. Do you know what we say? We say, no, it’s not. There should be one fare.

We have talked about this in this province for a very long time. We brought in a unified fare system. How have the NDP voted? This is a common-sense measure that will save the average transit user in our area about $1,600 a year—$1,600 right back in the pockets of those people who need it the most. The NDP voted against that measure. So let’s see—$1,600 out of your pocket if the NDP were elected for transit and transportation, because they don’t believe in a unified fare. Who knows what the cost of a carbon tax is? Take that right out of your pocket.

The NDP that set the record for spending in the history of the province of Ontario—in the short time that they actually held office—want to bring those same types of policies back to the province of Ontario. It is the same type of policies that we’re seeing in Ottawa. We talked about this right from the beginning. From the time that we took office here, we said when you increase red tape, when you increase costs, when you have out-of-control debt and deficits, that is not good for the economy and, ultimately, it’s not good for people. They disagree, and they continue to vote for those types of policies, which now have led to interest rates increasing faster than at any other time in this country’s history—it’s not just them here, because this very same crew that held the balance of power here and could have made a change here in 2012 or 2011 now holds the balance of power in Ottawa.

Interjection: Do you miss Ottawa?

I met with the mayor of Ottawa on Thursday—very supportive of the things that we are trying to do to build housing; very supportive of the things that we’re doing on transit and transportation; very supportive of cutting red tape and taxes for the people of the province of Ontario. But not to distract from what they’re doing in Ottawa, the NDP—it’s no surprise that the leader of the NDP in Ottawa was amongst that crew here that kept the Liberals in office here in the province of Ontario. In Ottawa, we’ve had SNC-Lavalin, we’ve had that justice minister who had issues, and just on and on and on, but they keep them in power—

Interjection.

When you talk about increasing interest rates, Madam Speaker, do you know what that means? That means a family who is about to start out and go buy their first home all of a sudden can’t afford to buy their first home. That means that families who are about to renew their mortgages can’t afford to renew their mortgages and continue to pay for the home that they have. That’s what that means. That’s what high interest rates and the policies that the NDP support mean for the people of this country.

I would challenge the members opposite to give their friends in Ottawa a call and say, “Reverse course”—don’t do like they did when they were here, and put the people of Canada first. When they had the opportunity, they didn’t put the people of Ontario first, and we are still trying to dig out of the mess that was 15 years of Liberal and NDP government in this province. We will continue to focus on that.

This morning, I talked about the bargain that was Canada for so many years—if you come to this country and work hard and play by the rules, you should have the opportunity to do better. It’s the one thing that we do—you leave your country, your province, in a better spot than what you found it in. Because of how disastrous the Liberals were, it was a low bar for the province of Ontario. It was a low bar, but we exceeded that so much—700,000 people have the dignity of a job, who didn’t when we took office. They’re working hard. But the bargain for them, the bargain for generations who have come to this country, was that if you do that, you work hard, you play by the rules, then your kids would do better than you do.

That’s why my parents came to this country. That’s why they left Italy to come here. My mom was 18; my dad—I don’t know; 26. They came here. My dad got off a train and started working almost immediately. The entire family lived in a home. They shared beds. When one was working, the other would leave. But they knew that one day, they would be able to have their own piece of the Canadian dream if they worked hard. And they did, right? They did. They moved out. One bought a home—I’ve talked about this—in the member for Scarborough Southwest’s riding. A wartime bungalow, a small, little 1,200-square-foot bungalow is where my family started its journey of home ownership. But they could do that.

One of the reasons I actually got into politics in the first place is because I remember—I was 10 years old when the first Liberal government, in my lifetime, anyway, brought the country to its knees with interest rates at 18% or 19%. Again, similar: out-of-control spending, higher taxes, the inability for the country to compete and to build a growing economy. I have never forgotten the stress. My parents were really good at it, Madam Speaker; they were really good at pretending like nothing was wrong, but you knew something was wrong. You knew something was wrong, and that is partially what drove me into office.

I will not be here in government and leave that as the legacy for the next generation. I just simply will not do it. So we will get 1.5 million homes built for the people in the province of Ontario. Do you know why, Madam Speaker? Because that is the bargain. That’s the bargain that we have here. As I said, work hard and you have the ability to get out of your parents’ basement. Think of all of these kids right now. When my 17-year-old daughter says to me that she might never be able to buy a home, that’s not the Ontario we grew up in. That’s not the Canada that we grew up in.

So when the opposition label, “What did you do? Why did you do it?”—look, I talked about this in my first news conference. My family was one of the first families in the province of Ontario to put a conservation easement across our farmland. I’ll never forget that work—it was done by Don Prince and the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust. We took 60 acres of our land back in 2004 and we put a conservation easement on top of that in favour of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust.

Why would a guy who has done that and a family who has done that be so willing to move so quickly to build homes? Because we are in a crisis. I acknowledge the fact, Madam Speaker, as I said earlier, that we made a mistake in where we chose to build those homes. We’re stepping back from that and we’re doing what is right because that’s what the people have asked us to do, but it doesn’t mean that we will stop on our motivation to build homes.

It goes further than that, right? Because not everybody just wants or can immediately start out building a home. Like my parents when they came here, there were many of them renting a home in a riding. That was the start of their dream: renting a home in a community. For many, that is the start, and the policies that we have brought in have helped us see purpose-built rental housing at its highest level in over 15 years. Imagine that: its highest level in over 15 years. We have people getting back into building rental housing in this province like never before, and they’re doing that because they know they have a government who’s a partner, a government who’s focused on building affordability for all types of people.

In my riding, we have the very first affordable housing apartment building being built—97 units of affordable housing that had never been built in our community, halfway through the construction phase right now. When I was there turning the sod on that, I can’t tell you how happy I was. I was there with the mayor of Stouffville, and we knew that it would make a difference. Because in a community like mine, we have seniors who want to go to different-style housing. They might be in a large house, and they want to downsize and move into a smaller home, thereby making their home available, but they have nowhere to go. They have nowhere to go, Madam Speaker.

The changes that we are making have seen more homes being built than ever before, but we still have a long way to go. Purpose-built rentals: at their highest level in 15 years. Housing starts: at their highest levels in 15 years. But it’s not enough. It is not enough, because if we’re to hit our target of 1.5 million homes, we are going to have to do even more, and it’s not just for them.

You look at long-term care. Long-term care is a home for someone. It is a home for someone, and when you bring 30,000 new long-term-care beds, it is 30,000 additional people who have a home who didn’t have it before. And we are going to go even further.

I was in Windsor a couple of weeks ago. We were at Meadowbrook Place, another investment that’s being made in social housing in Windsor—the first one, if I’m not mistaken, in over 30 years in that community. This is a really, really great place. It will support a couple of hundred families.

Again, it took them over 30 years to be able to build something like this. That is unacceptable. But those investments are happening, right? Those investments are happening in the province of Ontario again. You’re seeing there’s this energy around what’s happening in Ontario. There’s an energy about what’s happening around the province of Ontario.

Despite the fact that we have challenges, people can see that we are moving in a positive direction. Yes, high interest rates caused by federal policies are causing challenges for the people of Ontario. I talked about a young family, an individual who—frankly, it was his grandparents who had called me. I spoke about them in question period once. They had made 21 offers on homes—21 offers on homes and were not even in the game; not even in the game, ostensibly because there aren’t enough homes for them to buy.

This is an individual I talk about who did everything right. He bought a small bachelor apartment when he could, when he started working, with a goal of moving forward. He recently brought home—he and his wife had their first child, and they brought that child home to that bachelor apartment, but that’s not where they wanted to be, right? Now, he’s grateful that he was in the market, but that’s not where he wants to be, and that’s not where I want him and people like him to be. I want them to be in a home they are comfortable in, in a home where they can flourish, because that is what the promise of Ontario is for people.

We’ve gone a step further, Madam Speaker. We’ve gone a step further, right? In order to encourage the building of homes across the province of Ontario, working with our municipal partners, we said, “Look, you’re going to have to do more within your boundary. We’re going to build more homes around transit and transportation corridors because that makes sense. There’s going to be higher density in those areas.” You can build up to three units right now. Whether it’s a basement apartment, a garden suite, we’ve brought that in, and we will start to see the benefits of doing that.

But we’re going a step further, right? We’ve brought in a program that will incentivize our municipal partners to help us get shovels in the ground faster, because they want to work with us, right? They are just as frustrated by the years of Liberal and NDP stepping on their toes and getting in the way. So we brought in the Building Faster Fund, and that is geared specifically to helping reward those communities that help us get shovels in the ground to build more homes faster across the province of Ontario.

The reaction to that has been spectacular. It is a fund that is also available in smaller communities across the province because they told us they want to participate in that fund. We have a bill in front of this House right now which I challenge the opposition to vote in favour of. I challenge the opposition to vote in favour because, in a very real sense, the bill that is in front of the House right now is a referendum on building homes. It is a referendum on buildings homes.

In that bill, we have redefined what affordable housing is. We’ve redefined it not just based on market conditions in an area; we’ve redefined it based on income across the province of Ontario in different communities because we know that what is affordable in Hamilton is different than what’s affordable in Toronto. It’s different than what’s affordable in Stouffville. So we will work from community to community to ensure that everybody can participate in that.

And make no mistake about it: This is a referendum on everything. It gives the opposition NDP the opportunity to say—and it’s not only that. I know the associate minister will talk about the extraordinary work that’s being done in St. Thomas, where thousands of jobs are coming back. We need to build housing there. But this bill is a referendum on building homes. This bill is a referendum on our policies to reduce taxes for people. This bill is a referendum on economic development. It’s a referendum on whether you believe to support our automotive sector. It is a referendum on whether you believe we should build homes in communities across the province of Ontario. The NDP have the opportunity, in this bill, to vote in favour of the bill and to say that everything that they had voted against in the past was wrong and they actually now agree with the direction that the government has taken in order to build homes across the province of Ontario.

So, I say very clearly to the opposition—and it is a deliberately focused bill so that the opposition can focus on what matters to the people of the province of Ontario. It encapsulates everything that we have done to spur on development, to bring affordable homes to the people of the province of Ontario, and the NDP can stand in their place when we bring this to a vote and they can vote in favour of that, or they can say, “We still don’t agree with building homes. We don’t agree with the definition of affordability that includes all parts of the province and at all income levels.” But they have the opportunity to do the right thing, despite the fact that they have voted literally against every single measure that we have brought in. They actually even voted against the increase in funding that we brought in for the homeless.

We spend, I think—about $700 million each year, I think, is the total that we spend and I think we increased that by over $200 million this year, and the opposition NDP voted against that. They voted against that increase in funding. I’m not sure why, but I suspect the reason why is because what that money is intended to do is to lift people out. It’s intended to lift people out and the NDP constantly want to hold people back. I’ve talked about this a lot. For the NDP, what is important is not what you do with your wealth, not what you do with your resources, it’s what they can do for you. I think Ronald Reagan said it—what did he say? Beware of anybody who comes and says, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” That is the mantra by which the NDP live by. They are happiest when people exclusively rely on government.

Now, the same thing with the Liberals, right? They just get the NDP to do their bidding for them. So the Liberals feel the same way, but they know they have the NDP to support them and to keep them in power, so they blame the NDP for that. They are one and the same.

To sum up, Madam Speaker, let me say this: We will be voting against this measure because we have acknowledged and accepted each of the recommendations of the Auditor General. She laid on the table 15 recommendations; we have accepted all of those recommendations and we’re going further. But we will not—this is not about—because they’ve shown it, in their speeches. They’ve shown that a select committee does not mean accountability for them; it just means delaying. Delay, delay, delay and stopping us from doing what is important: building homes for the people of the province of Ontario.

Because of that, we will be voting against this motion, and we will remain singularly focused on building more homes for the people of the province of Ontario, reducing taxes, fighting the carbon tax, fighting the policies that stop young Canadians from purchasing their first home or renting their first home. We will vote against all of the policies that they brought in with the Liberals that held our economy back. We will continue to focus on building a bigger, better, stronger province of Ontario and we will not let the obstacles that the NDP and Liberals like to put in the way, standing in our way of doing just that for all Ontarians.