My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. The time-honoured activities of hunting and fishing have been enjoyed and cherished by Ontarians over many generations. However, considerations regarding conservation of fish and wildlife across our province are equally important. That’s why it’s vital that our government has robust programs in place to manage fish and wildlife species, to help sustain their populations and to protect their habitat and ecosystems.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is protecting and supporting wildlife and their environments while also ensuring that Ontarians are able to participate in hunting and fishing?

This is important news for hunters and anglers as the fall season gets under way in Ontario.

Speaker, we welcome the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters to the Legislature today. They are headquartered in my riding. This organization brings a long history and reputation of advocacy for conserving Ontario’s fish and wildlife resources while also enhancing hunting and fishing opportunities. OFAH proudly represents over 100,000 members, subscribers, supporters, with 725 member-clubs across our province.

Can the minister please elaborate on how our government continues to work in partnership with OFAH to improve hunting and fishing in Ontario, as well as conserving fish and wildlife resources?

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program has been a failure since it was created in 2019. The official poverty line for a single person in Ontario is estimated to be about $27,000, yet the Ontario Seniors Dental Care Program income cut-off for a single senior is $22,000, much closer to what experts call the “deep income poverty threshold.”

Wait-lists continue to grow across this province and seniors in Kitchener-Waterloo want to know why this program for low-income seniors does not even meet the basic expectation of serving seniors who are living in poverty.

In Kitchener-Waterloo my office continues to hear from seniors who are eligible and, after receiving the one-time inflation payment from the federal government, are now deemed ineligible after waiting for a whole year. In some cases, they’re ineligible by 30 cents. The flawed design is causing immense stress for seniors in the province of Ontario.

Is the government content—it sounds like they are—with a flawed dental program that leaves Ontario seniors stranded on a wait-list or bumped off, never receiving the care that seniors deserve in this province?

My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing. For nearly two decades under the previous Liberal government, propped up by the NDP, housing construction suffered in our province. Because of the indifference and inaction demonstrated under their watch, building homes in Ontario was not a priority, creating the crisis that continues to pose challenges for many of the individuals and families in my riding of Brantford–Brant.

The seriousness of this housing crisis is not just felt in southwest Ontario. Communities across our province are facing similar challenges. While our government has made major progress by passing new housing legislation, the people of Ontario are looking to our government to produce even more results and continue to show bold and decisive leadership.

Can the associate minister please explain what actions our government is taking to increase housing construction in the province of Ontario?

Ontario is leading the country as one of the few provinces to provide seniors access to the high-quality dental care that they deserve. I want to remind the member opposite that in 2021 we actually reduced the qualifying income by over 10%, making it easier for more seniors to access this program. In 2023 we had the highest total number of renewed clients, with over 81,000, up from 69,000 the year before. And we have some innovative public health units that are actually providing dental care directly to patients so that they don’t have to travel.

We’re making the changes and we’re leading that innovation to ensure that people have access in their community, where they need it.

I thank the member from Brantford–Brant for his question. Yes, Speaker, the member is spot on. We have a housing crisis in this province like we’ve never seen, and we have to fix it. But it’s results that count, and this government has delivered four housing supply action plans. We’ve delivered $700 million this year—up $200 million year over year—for the Homelessness Prevention Program, $1.2 billion for the Building Faster Fund to support our municipalities, and we’ve cut red tape to get shovels in the ground faster. It’s results that count: more homes built, more rental starts in the last two years than in over 30 years.

We also know that there is more to do. But while the opposition raises doubts, we’re busy raising roofs over the people of this province. There’s more to do, and more will be—

To reply, the Minister of Education.

I do thank the member for the question. I want to reaffirm the message shared by the President of the Treasury Board that we want all parties to come together to put children first, as we just did last week with OSSTF, a large union in the province of Ontario, where we were able to sign a deal, a pathway that averts a strike and keeps kids in school. We want the spirit of unity to come together around the negotiating table where all parties come together to sign a deal that ensures the continuity of services.

We value the work of TVO employees, be it Mathify, digital learning, the high-quality online courses which, of course, members opposite have systematically opposed. The bottom line is, Speaker, we value their contributions—funding is at $50 million for TVO specifically—and we reaffirm and urge all the parties to come together to sign a deal that allows the continuity of these critical services in Ontario.

Point of order, Speaker. I would just like to congratulate the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke on his 20th anniversary, as well.

Interjection: We did that: Barry’s Bay.

Let me tell you about Tim, Speaker. Tim is an insulin-dependant diabetic with long-term disabilities. When his family doctor passed away, Tim was left without a family practitioner. He contacted Health Connect Ontario to no avail. He visited numerous family practices and nurse practitioner clinics—had no success. Tim eventually had to go to the waiting room of the emergency room for hours just to get his prescriptions filled.

Tim is not alone, Speaker. One out of eight northern residents don’t have access to a family doctor. This is why NOSM needs this money.

So to help people like Tim, will the Premier commit today to a permanent $4-million increase in the base funding for the Northern Ontario School of Medicine?

[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.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre.

L’École de médecine du Nord de l’Ontario est un succès pour augmenter le nombre de médecins dans le nord de l’Ontario : 50 % de leurs diplômés choisissent la médecine familiale et plus de 90 % des apprenants et apprenantes demeurent dans le nord de l’Ontario. Aujourd’hui, plus de 400 000 résidents et résidentes du Nord reçoivent des soins primaires et aigus d’une médecin ou d’un médecin formés à l’EMNO.

Lorsque le gouvernement a créé la première école de médecine autonome au Canada, il savait que ça coûterait plus cher—4 millions de dollars de plus, pour être exacte. Parry Sound, Muskoka et de nombreuses autres communautés de circonscriptions du Nord ont écrit au premier ministre pour appuyer la demande de l’EMNO d’augmenter de façon permanente son financement de base.

Quand est-ce que le gouvernement va accorder à l’université de l’EMNO le financement annualisé de 4 millions de dollars dont elle a besoin pour rester à flot?

Thank you, again, to the member from Brantford–Brant. Creating the environment for success is what leadership is about; that is what this Premier and this government have done. In fact, 15,000 purpose-built rentals, up 7.5% year over year—this is success.

I would also add that we need to, humbly submitted, pass the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act legislation before this Legislature. It’s going to lower costs. It’s going to cut red tape. It’s going to work with our municipal partners. It’s bold, it’s innovative and it’s results-oriented.

Speaker, we have a mandate to act and, I would conclude, we have a duty to succeed. We will get the job done.

Individuals and families across Ontario should be able to find a home that fits their needs. From the associate minister’s response, it is clear that our government is making progress in boosting housing starts. However, there needs to be a significant increase in the overall housing supply across Ontario, especially rental housing. More needs to be done to boost rental housing starts and to reduce barriers in their construction so that more Ontarians have more choice and access to affordable housing.

Speaker, can the associate minister please explain what measures our government is implementing to increase rental housing supply throughout Ontario?

Thank you.

The supplementary question.

The supplementary, the member for Sudbury.

There being no further business at this time, this House stands in recess until 3 p.m.

The House recessed from 1143 to 1500.

I’ll go back to the Leader of the Opposition.

Thank you to the hard-working member from Thornhill for that great question.

Mr. Speaker, yes, our government is currently making an unprecedented investment in housing. As we see before our eyes, the population within our province is growing at an outstanding rate, and these people need somewhere to live and ways to get around. Our government is aware of these challenges— and if left unchecked, will lead to more issues in the future.

That is why we have introduced the Transportation for the Future Act, which aims to help build more GO Transit stations, which in turn will help to generate more housing and mixed-used communities around transit infrastructure. This will result in a more convenient commute across the greater Golden Horseshoe while also helping us to meet the goal of getting 1.5 million homes built by 2031. It is one of the ways we’re building up Ontario for families in the years ahead.

Mr. Speaker, our proposed legislation would create a station contribution fee as a new tool to allow municipalities to stimulate the construction of new GO Transit stations. This will bring a return of investment that will include accelerated transit expansion as well as vibrant mixed-use communities that will contain much-needed housing. This legislation also seeks to give permission to municipalities to recover costs from funding new GO Transit stations. The station contribution fee would be collected until the full station costs are recovered. This will result in a reduction in other development costs.

Mr. Speaker, building these transit-oriented communities will lead to more housing, local businesses, investment opportunities, reduced travel times and will create better connections between regions. And to add to that, our subway Transit-Oriented Communities Program has already led to 13 new sites, creating 48,000 new housing units.

Our priority is to ensure we have a safe and efficient highway network across our province, particularly in northern Ontario, where the winter months pose significant challenges for drivers. Previously in my role as a parliamentary assistant to transportation, Mr. Speaker, I have done four-day driving tours throughout Ontario, starting from Thunder Bay all the way to North Bay, to see the work that’s been going on.

I want to highlight one thing: Ontario has nation-leading standards in place when it comes to winter maintenance, and we intend to keep it that way. Also, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to northern Ontario, under the leadership of Premier Doug Ford, we are bringing the Northlander back.

I move that, whereas the Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner have found significant irregularities in the processes leading to this government’s removal of lands from the greenbelt; and

Whereas the investigations by these independent officers have raised serious questions that demand further inquiry; and

Whereas the witnesses who refused to co-operate with the Auditor General’s investigation must be compelled to provide their evidence; and

Whereas members of this government have previously advocated for the use of select committees to investigate misconduct, including the Liberal government’s gas plant cancellations;

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls on the government to form a select committee on changes to the greenbelt to ensure full transparency and accountability.

I move that, whereas the Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner found that the government’s decision to remove lands from the greenbelt gave preferential treatment to certain private interests; and

Whereas the reports of these independent officers call into question this government’s decision-making on other ongoing transactions, including Highway 413, urban boundary expansions, Ontario Place, health care privatization and stalled transit projects; and

Whereas the witnesses who refused to co-operate with the Auditor General’s investigation must be compelled to provide their evidence; and

Whereas members of this government have previously advocated for the use of select committees to investigate misconduct, including the gas plant cancellations;

Therefore, the Legislative Assembly calls on the government to appoint a select committee on changes to the greenbelt to ensure full transparency and accountability.

It is my honour to present the following petition entitled “Expand Ontario Seniors Dental Plan.” It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas seniors have to access the Ontario seniors dental plan through local public health units;

“Whereas the number of dentists registered with public health units to be covered under the Ontario seniors dental plan is low in northern Ontario;

“Whereas the small number of dentists registered with the Ontario seniors dental plan limits the capacity of public health units to serve their patients...; and

“Whereas the income threshold for seniors to be eligible for the Ontario seniors dental plan is unreasonably low—an annual net income of $22,200 or less for a single senior; a combined annual net income of $37,100 or less for a couple—thus creating a huge barrier for low-income seniors to access dental care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“—to invest in community health centres, aboriginal health access centres, and public health units to build and expand dental suites and to hire more dentists; and

“—to facilitate the implementation of the federal dental health care plan, which covers all seniors with income lower than $75,000, when it becomes law.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and deliver it, through page Sophia, to the Clerks.

I would like to thank Kevin Lomack for signing the petition Housing for All.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas all Ontarians have the right to adequate housing;

“Whereas to ensure an adequate supply of housing, Ontario must build 1.5 million new market and non-market homes over the next decade; and

“Whereas the for-profit private market by itself will not, and cannot, deliver enough homes that are affordable and meet the needs of Ontarians for all incomes, ages, family sizes, abilities and cultures;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to implement a comprehensive housing plan that ensures the right of all Ontarians to adequate housing, including:

“—ending exclusionary zoning and enabling access to affordable and adequate housing options in all neighbourhoods;

“—stabilizing housing markets and stopping harmful speculation; establishing a strong public role in the funding, delivery, acquisition and protection of an adequate supply of affordable and non-market homes;

“—protecting tenants from rent gouging and displacement, and ensuring the inclusivity of growing neighbourhoods; and

“—focusing growth efficiently and sustainably within existing urban boundaries, while protecting irreplaceable farmland, wetlands, the greenbelt and other natural heritage from costly and unsustainable urban sprawl.”

I fully support this petition, sign it and give it to page Isabella to give to the table.