Two weeks ago, members of the Jewish community in my riding of Eglinton–Lawrence and across Ontario observed Rosh Hashanah, the start of the new year according to Jewish teachings. I wish all who celebrated a blessed and pleasant new year.

Rosh Hashanah is the first of the High Holy Days. The following 10 days are days of repentance and culminate in Yom Kippur, also known as the day of atonement and considered the holiest day in Judaism. Through fasting, prayer and the repentance of sins, Jews make amends for sins committed against God or others.

Given the profound significance of these holidays, recent news that I’ve received is very concerning. Within my riding, banners advertising the High Holy Days for local shuls, including the Song Shul, Temple Sinai and Shaarei Shomayim, were vandalized or stolen from their Lawrence Plaza location. A fourth banner which did not mention the High Holy Days remained intact. They were replaced and then stolen again, but the fourth unrelated banner remained untouched again.

This vandalism targeting the Jewish community has no place in Ontario. Thankfully, B’nai Brith, who is always active, is aware of it and is taking action.

Our government, Mr. Speaker, remains committed to combatting anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred through initiatives such as the Anti-Hate Security and Prevention Grant and mandatory Holocaust education in grade 6, starting this year.

We all need to do our part to promote tolerance, understanding and respect for all of our neighbours, no matter what their race or religion.

I’m proud to share the news that the Northway Wellness Centre has officially opened in Sault Ste. Marie.

On September 19 earlier this year, I joined the team from Sault Area Hospital and many community partners at Northway to share with the public that the 20-bed residential withdrawal management facility centre would begin accepting patients on September 25.

Northway Wellness Centre is the home to the residential withdrawal management and safe beds program and will be offering services such as comprehensive assessments, medical support, counselling. They will be able to refer patients and families to all of the related services and offerings within our community.

The new facility will provide treatment options to people in our community who are suffering and their families by complementing the significant investments that have been made to build out-of-hospital services and numerous community wraparound supports and services that support vulnerable persons in crisis before they end up in a hospital. These supports are all critical and will help people to heal and to thrive.

Northway will be staffed by a mental health and addictions team including doctors, nurses and social workers.

I want to say a special thank you to the Ministry of Health and to Sault Area Hospital and all of the various community organisations and leaders for making this a reality and for bringing this incredible new facility into our community. It is going to help so many.

Dementia in its many forms is a critical health care issue that affects patients, families and caregivers in profound ways. In the region of Durham, there are over 4,000 residents with dementia. While there are many dementia care services and programs in place today, there’s still a lot of work to do. Consequently, Ontario Tech University and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences have launched the Advancement for Dementia Care Centre, a vital new community-based partnership aimed at uncovering solutions to improve the quality of life of patients and caregivers through innovation and research and deployment of new technologies.

Speaker, one ADCC example of accelerating care involves a “living lab” at Ontario Shores, where cutting-edge technologies can be adapted, implemented in real clinical settings and evaluated based on their practical application. This innovation will support patients’ psychosocial needs and behavioural challenges.

Clearly, the partnership between Ontario Tech and Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences will positively impact the care of people living with dementia and their families living in Whitby and other parts of the region of Durham.

It’s a privilege to welcome Jennifer, Lucy, Holly, Laura and Jake from the Canadian Liver Foundation to Queen’s Park today. They are hosting a reception this afternoon, at 12 in room 228. Everyone is welcome. I welcome you to Queen’s Park.

We have several members from the TVO branch of the Canadian Media Guild. A few of the executive are here: Meredith Martin, Cara Stern and Dan DiMillo.

I am seeking unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 45(b)(iv), eight minutes be apportioned to the independent members as a group for debate on opposition motion number 1 today.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. On your behalf, I do believe I see your wife sitting up in the gallery. Lisa Arnott is here, and I think we should all give a round of applause for her putting up with the Speaker for many, many years.

On behalf of the government and the Ministry of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, I too want to welcome the National Council of Canadian Muslims as well as community leaders from across the province on behalf of the Muslim community here. Welcome to your House.

J’aimerais souhaiter la bienvenue aux gens de TFO qui sont ici aujourd’hui avec nous. J’ai eu la chance de les rencontrer ce matin. J’ai eu la chance aussi de participer à leur évènement à Ottawa, la rentrée. Je dois les féliciter pour la programmation puis aussi pour leur implication dans l’éducation de nos francophones en Ontario. Donc, madame Godin, madame Séguin : bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

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

Today in the Speaker’s gallery, we have with us this year’s cohort of the Ontario Legislative Internship Program, or OLIP, as we know it. They are Razan Akiba, Milena Basciano, Steffi Burgi, Evan Cameron, Bridget Carter-Whitney, Olivia Collver, Kaitlin Gallant, Astrid Krueger, Taylor Pizzirusso and Rhea Saini.

This non-partisan program allows interns to gain practical experience in the daily workings of the Legislature. They will each complete two placements over the course of their time at Queen’s Park, one with a government member and one with an opposition member. I want to encourage all eligible members to participate in this exceptional program. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

There should be no political commentary during introduction of visitors.

The member for Kitchener–Conestoga.

I understand the member for Ottawa–Vanier has a point of order.

Interjection.

Agreed? I heard a no.

Interjections.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome members of the National Council of Canadian Muslims who are here for their advocacy day. I look forward to seeing you later on at the reception. Welcome.

Every day, we find out new details about who and how this government’s insiders were involved in the greenbelt grab. Public accounts revealed that this government paid the Premier’s former principal secretary Amin Massoudi nearly a quarter of a million dollars to do the same job via his private company, Atlas.

My question to the Premier is, why did the Premier hire his good friend to provide the same services but at an exorbitant pay increase?

It’s my privilege to take the opportunity to introduce my sister-in-law, Meredith Martin, who’s in the gallery.

It’s a great honour to welcome the following TVO executives and workers to their House at Queen’s Park: president of the TVO branch of the Canadian Media Guild Meredith Martin and VP Cara Stern, along with Sameen Ahmad-Wing Quan, Aaron Bala, Nathaniel Basen, Chris Beaver, Preeti Bhuyan, Eric Bombicino, Jacquie Busby, Ryan Buskirk, Hilary Clark, Dan DiMillo, Natalie Drajewicz, Colin Ellis, Sean Foreman, Erica Giancola, Sandra Gionas, Ruth Hurst, Daniel Kitts, Namugenyi Kiwanuka, Liane Kotler, Tiffany Lam, Christine Lee, Harrison Lowman, Lisa Marinelli, John Michael McGrath, Matthew O’Mara, Sangeeta Patel, Aaron Reichert, Wodek Szemberg, Shajgev Umaharan, Jeanne d’Arc Umurungi, Cara Vaughan and Brittany Weaver.

Thank you to these education workers, journalists and producers from TVO workers.

Interruption.

I also want to give a great thank you to the Jain Society of Toronto, in Scarborough, that held an excellent morning ceremony today on the power of friendship.

I’d like to introduce Charlie the chaplain. He’s in the public gallery today and he offers counselling services to MPPs, if you wish. And let’s be honest, we need all the help we can get.

I want to introduce Brooke Timpson, a friend and a former staffer here at Queen’s Park. Welcome.

I’d like to welcome board members Pamela Baker and Stephen Harvey from RTOERO. Welcome. RTOERO is an association of retirees associated with education. Welcome to your House.

Mr. Speaker, it is an absolute pleasure to introduce His Holiness Acharya Dr. Lokesh Muni Ji, Dr. Mahendra Jain, Anshul Rohil, Mahendra Bhandari, Prakash Kumar and Harshit Shah from the Jain Society of Toronto in Scarborough, and a resident of Mississauga–Malton, Tanvi Nagda.

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.