It’s my pleasure to introduce someone who is well known to all of us, I think: Michau van Speyk, a passionate autism advocate, who is with us today.

I’m proud to welcome my family here in the gallery today: my wife Aleksandra, my son Aleksandar and my son Ilija.

I would like to welcome Dr. Adrienne Galway from the Ontario Council on Articulation and Transfer as well as the rest of her ONCAT team to Queen’s Park today.

Thank you for being here.

Remarks in Anishininiimowin. Good morning, Speaker. Just a point of order: As an Anishinaabe, I am very proud this morning; I’m very happy this morning. Last night, Manitoba elected its first Anishinaabe Premier. Wab Kinew is a member of Onigaming First Nation, which is part of Treaty 3 territory here in Ontario. This is a very proud moment for the province and for all Indigenous people.

Congratulations, Wab. I know you’re going to do a great job. Meegwetch.

River Almanzor is the page captain and has been for the last two weeks, and she’s from Hamilton Centre. We’re joined in the members’ gallery by her family: Nicole Almanzor and Jan Almanzor; Angela, who is her aunt; Angie and Oscar, her grandparents; Colton Almanzor, who is her brother; and Marissa Fajardo, who is her grandparent.

Thank you, River, for everything you’ve been doing this week. It’s great to have this family in the House. Welcome to your House.

C’est un honneur pour moi de présenter à Queen’s Park la TFO et l’Association franco-ontarienne des conseils scolaires catholiques. Bienvenue.

Join us in 228 and 230 this afternoon for a wonderful reception of Franco-Ontarians.

Je voudrais souhaiter la bienvenue aux membres de l’Association franco-ontarienne des conseils scolaires catholiques, également des anciens collègues de travail. Bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

It is my pleasure to rise in the House today and welcome members of the Somali community and the Somali Centre for Culture and Recreation here to the House. I invite all members to room 230 for a reception over lunch.

That concludes our members’ statements for this morning.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

To respond, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The next question.

Restart the clock. Supplementary?

Start the clock. Leader of the Opposition.

A number of members down at that end of the chamber will come to order.

The member for Ottawa South could come to order.

I apologize to the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr. Speaker, Mayor Nuttall is doing a great job up in Barrie. He wants to build homes. He wants to contribute. He has capacity, whether it’s water or sewage, and he’s asking to build more homes. That’s why we’re doing it. We consulted with the mayor, and we’re going to build the 1.5 million homes that the opposition doesn’t want to build.

Do you notice that they don’t want to do anything? They vote against building homes, vote against building hospitals, vote against long-term care. They vote against the expansion of roads, highways and bridges. They vote against everything. This province would be a disaster if you were ever on this side of the aisle here.

Of course, we’re working constantly with our municipal partners. We’ve made it very clear to all of our municipal partners that we intend to build 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario. We haven’t made that a secret; it is something that has driven us since 2018.

At the same time, we are seeing thousands of people coming to the province of Ontario from other parts of Canada to participate in what is the economic growth and prosperity here in the province of Ontario. At the same time, over the next decade, millions of people will come from all over the world. Because of that, Mr. Speaker—not only because of people coming from other parts of Canada, not only because of the immigration that is coming to this country, but because we want fundamentally to get people out of their parents’ basements and into homes, whether it’s apartments or whether it’s a home of their own—we are going to continue to focus on building homes for the people of the province of Ontario, despite the opposition.

The interim Liberal leader just called building houses a virus—he called it a virus—and that underpins 15 years of Liberal government rule in the province of Ontario. It is not a virus to have people have the home ownership that generations of Ontarians have wanted. It is not a virus for 700,000 people to have the dignity of a job who didn’t when he and the NDP were in power in the province of Ontario.

We’re a province that is growing. Our communities are growing, and they want to participate with us. They want to build homes. They want to meet those targets, and many of our communities want to exceed the targets—

But what we will continue to do is, across the province of Ontario, where we are making billions of dollars of investments in transit and transportation, where we’re building brand new GO train stations, we will intensify—

Interjection.

It again underlines what’s happening in York region. We have people who need employers in York region. When you come to downtown Stouffville, help wanted signs are in the windows because the economy is booming. Our agricultural sector is booming. Our high-tech sector in Markham is booming. It kills the opposition, because for 15 years, they worked with the Liberals to bring the province to its knees.

I’m excited, because, you know what, the Ontario that we have today is booming. It’s moving in the right direction. It’s because of this Premier and this caucus, and we won’t stop.

Interjections.

But do you know what we’re going to continue to do? We’re going to continue to do what they don’t want us to do. We’re going to focus on building an economy that is stronger than ever. We’re going to continue to focus on making sure that the next generation of Ontarians can get out of their parents’ basements and can go find homes of their own. We’re going to continue to focus on policies that have given us more housing starts than in the last 15 years. We’re going to continue to focus on policies that have given us more affordable rental housing starts in over 15 years. Do you know why that is? Because we’re removing the obstacles that they put in place.

This isn’t about housing for them. It’s not about the economy for them, Mr. Speaker. What it’s about is not understanding how to build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario, because for 15 years, they worked with them, and they failed.

Speaker, that answer is not going to cut it because this is not happening in a vacuum. This is a land grab happening at the same time as this government was carving up the greenbelt.

Let’s look at Barrie. The government actually reduced density targets for new developments in Barrie. That means higher infrastructure costs for people in Barrie and more sprawl. But guess what? It’s bigger bucks for a select few land speculators. The government’s memo warned that these changes would make it harder for the city to meet its own housing targets.

Speaker, to the Premier: If this was actually about housing, why is his government pursuing policies that will make it even harder for future generations to find a home?

Speaker, the memo also covers this government’s 2,300 hectares of forced sprawl in Waterloo region, throwing out all of the consultation and the planning work that the region had already done. The government’s own internal memo warned against this, and it said that third-party requests were prioritized over evidence-based solutions by expert planners. This government knew this was wrong; they knew it.

Back to the Premier: Why did his government proceed with this plan for forced boundary changes, and who made these third-party requests?

Interjections.

The Premier says he will supposedly reverse this greenbelt grab, so will he also reverse the changes to York’s official plan?

Interesting, because guess who that benefits? Guess who that benefits? Another speculator with ties to the Premier and to his party.

Speaker, the Integrity Commissioner revealed evidence suggesting—

Interjections.

Because guess who those changes benefit? Another speculator with ties to this Premier and his party.

Speaker, the Integrity Commissioner revealed evidence suggesting Michael Rice asked for a parcel of land in Richmond Hill to be removed from the greenbelt—land he didn’t yet own. But Mr. Rice seemed to know that this government was planning to open up this land for speculators, so he made a deal to buy the land at a rock-bottom price, and then this government changed the boundaries to include his property, driving its value up dramatically.

Did the Premier and did this government give preferential treatment to Mr. Rice?

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The previous Liberal government, with support from the NDP, turned a blind eye as over 300,000 manufacturing jobs left this province. Their policies left us dependent on other jurisdictions for critical goods.

In contrast, our government took a proactive and common-sense approach. We recognized that in an era of geopolitical uncertainty, we need a resilient manufacturing sector so that we can make products in Ontario again.

Under the leadership of this Premier, this minister and our government, manufacturing employment is now at one of its highest levels since 2008 and is thriving in many parts of our province. Speaker, can the minister please provide an update on the successes in Ontario’s manufacturing sector and their contributions to Ontario’s prosperity?

Under our government, we are witnessing manufacturers investing more in Ontario, and we are continuing to see even more jobs being created in the sector. We cannot afford to lose that momentum. Our government must continue to do all that we can to keep moving forward in building a stronger Ontario.

Speaker, can the minister please explain what our government is doing to advance job growth in the manufacturing sector?

My question is to the Premier. This government unilaterally moved more than 1,000 acres of farmland inside urban boundaries in Wellington county. An internal government memo notes that these changes occurred before the county had completed a land-needs assessment and municipal comprehensive review. Instead of letting Wellington county assess where it could grow sustainably and cost-effectively, the government just went ahead and arbitrarily added 1,000 acres to Fergus and Elora.

The government doesn’t even know the impact on groundwater or the cost of infrastructure. Premier, why would your government impose such risk on the people of Wellington county without any evidence whatsoever to support this decision?

Why is this government forcing Belleville to make changes to its official plan that it knows might be illegal?

We made it very clear that we intend to build 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario. We’ve also made it very clear to our municipal partners that we expect them to work with us.

In the member’s own home community, in Hamilton, despite the fact that their own planners said that they don’t have enough land to meet their targets of building homes, they refuse to expand the urban boundaries, so we had to make sure that we did that. You know why? Because Hamilton is expected to grow to over 800,000 people over the next decade. It is our responsibility to ensure that there is enough land available over the next two decades to meet the targets that we are setting.

We have a very aggressive and ambitious target for 2031: 1.5 million homes to put ourselves back on track, Mr. Speaker. We will not be diverted from that, despite the opposition of the NDP and the Liberals. All they like to do is obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. You know what we’re going to do? We’re going to remove those obstacles and we’re going to make sure our municipal partners work with us to build those homes.

Interjections.

You have just admitted to the entire province why it is that you are such a failure in working with them. It’s because you don’t think long-term. For you, it’s all about today. For us, it’s about tomorrow and building a better future for the next generation. Our whole job about being here is working to give the next generation something better than we received. That’s the difference between you and us, and we will not be sidetracked on that—

Interjections.

This Friday, our government will join with the hard-working men and women who work in Ontario’s world-class manufacturing sector in celebrating Ontario Manufacturing Day, and throughout Manufacturing Month in October, we’ll recognize the immense contributions made to our economy.

Ontario is home to more than 814,000 men and women who turn out finished products every day at our 36,000 manufacturing companies. Here’s an interesting fact, Speaker: In July, Ontario added more manufacturing jobs than all 50 US states combined. So to the manufacturing workers, we say have a great Manufacturing Day, and thank you for everything you’re doing to support our province.

Talk to the 700,000 people that are working today that weren’t working when you and the Liberals were in government. You chased 300,000 jobs out of the province. Talk to the people up in Durham who don’t have to pay the tolls on the 412 and 418 that you implemented and the Liberals implemented. Talk to the eight million people that got a cheque back from the government for the licence stickers. Talk to the people that fill up every single day and save 10.7 cents per litre.

You are against building homes, building hospitals, building long-term care. You are against absolutely everything in this province. Thank God we’re running the province and not you two, who absolutely destroyed the province. For 15 years you destroyed it.

Interjections.

Stop the clock. I apologize. The member for Kitchener–Conestoga will come to order. The Minister of Energy will come to order. We’re not going to continue this way. I’m not going to keep interrupting the member who has the floor because of excessive heckling.

Start the clock. Leader of the Opposition.

The Premier.

The next question.

Supplementary question.

I’m having a great deal of difficulty maintaining my patience, so I’m going to move to warnings. If you’re warned and I have to speak to you again, you’ll be named.

Interjection.

Start the clock. The next question.