To respond, the Minister of Transportation.

The Minister of Transportation.

I appreciate the question. The member from Scarborough–Agincourt is right; there is nothing more villainous than preying on the vulnerable.

That’s why I recently announced that Ontario is investing more than $4 million across the province to help support victims and survivors of intimate partner violence, domestic violence, human trafficking and child exploitation. The funding is being delivered through the victim support grant. The victim support grant is part of Ontario’s Guns, Gangs and Violence Reduction Strategy and complements the province’s $307-million anti-human trafficking strategy. I’m proud to say that 45 police services are receiving funding through this program for 2023 and 2024.

Monsieur le Président, nous investissons de manière proactive, ciblée et précise, afin de lutter contre la criminalité et d’assurer la sécurité des collectivités.

You can’t make this stuff up with these guys, right?

So we sent a letter to them. As you know, Mr. Speaker, we’ve undertaken 23 of the recommendations. We asked our municipal partners—who, by the way, are actually here today, speaking with us on how we can build homes faster across the province of Ontario—to identify the top five items that we could work together to move on so that we could get more homes built faster. Our municipal partners are excited about this opportunity. As I said, they’re here today working with a number of ministers to do just that.

We’re going to continue doing all that we can to build homes faster. In fact, we have a new fund that’s in place for our municipal partners called the Building Faster Fund—what that is is working with our municipal partners. I think you voted against the Building Faster Fund, like you voted against building transit faster, like you voted against building more hospitals, like you voted against building transit and transportation. But we’re going to work with them. We’re going to get homes built for the people of—

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education.

These past few weeks have forced OSTA’s leadership to play their hand and show their cards. Despite meeting with Ministry of Education officials and receiving extra funding this past summer, the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority has left parents scrambling to get their children to school. It has been over a month since school started, and the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority did not have their act together. Reports continue to come out regarding numerous school bus routes being cancelled. For the past four weeks, this has left thousands of parents in my riding of Carleton and across the city of Ottawa to have to set up carpools or rearrange their work schedules so they can drive their children to and from school.

Just last night, OSTA announced that it has appointed an interim operations manager to take over during the GM’s leave of absence, which was announced Monday.

Families are frustrated and are looking for leadership and accountability from OSTA.

Speaker, through you: Can the minister please set the record straight and explain what supports our government has provided to address student transportation needs in Ottawa?

Unfortunately, problems with school transportation services are occurring only with the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority, impacting thousands of children.

While the Ottawa French-language transportation authority can get students to and from school, it has been the English boards that have had difficulty with OSTA.

The difficulties that families are facing to get their children to and from school are unacceptable. One parent from rural Ottawa even had to take off work indefinitely to get her child to and from school. Another parent from Munster told me that she’s at risk of losing her job. Parents have told me that they’ve spent over $1,000 on Ubers just in a month.

OSTA’s steps are hopeful, but more needs to be done.

Mr. Speaker, through you: Can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to support reliable and safe transportation services for students in Ontario?

Mr. Speaker, while members from Ottawa West–Nepean and Ottawa Centre literally sit on the sidelines on this issue and do what they do best—slacktivism and hashtag politics—this government is standing up for Ottawa families and getting the job done. We are the only party in this Legislature holding the school board and the consortia to account—and we have not only done that; we’ve launched an audit of the consortia, because we demand better. Speaker, 70% of all cancellations in the entire province are in the English public Ottawa school board. The French school board consortia, which has fewer students and a larger territory, is getting the job done—and not the English consortia. So I expect all members to stand up for Ottawa families—like the member from Carleton—to demand better. We provided an additional increase of funding of $1.8 million to that school board and, even still, with additional funding, they can’t get the job done. So we’re going to stand up and demand better for all Ottawa residents.

Thank you. The supplementary question? The member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas.

[Inaudible] withdraw the unparliamentary comment.

Interjection.

Everyone knows that the Premier’s so-called housing policies have nothing to do with housing. The Premier ignored his own housing task force and focused instead on enriching his speculator friends, who made huge profits from zoning changes without building a single home.

I’ll let the minister know that in Hamilton we are exceeding our housing targets, and we’re doing it within our previous boundaries. This means, for Hamilton, complete, sustainable communities. This means lower infrastructure costs. This means more affordable housing options.

Will the Premier stop making it harder to build homes in Hamilton, stop trying to enrich his speculator friends, and reverse his forced and harmful expansions of Hamilton’s urban boundaries?

Interjections.

My question is to the Minister of Transportation.

Scarborough deserves the same support for transit that the rest of Ontario experiences, but I’m not sure this government agrees. The outdated Scarborough RT has been shut down, but the Scarborough subway extension to replace it—which this government loves to brag about, despite it being a project commissioned by the previous Liberal government—is only set to open by 2030.

The TTC wants to build a busway in the RT route, but they need provincial funding to get it done. We need this busway so that thousands of Scarborough transit users can get to work and school on time and spend more time with their families.

Will the minister commit to treating Scarborough with respect and funding the busway?

We had a subway derailed and shut down for good in Scarborough, and the province will not lend our beautiful city a hand. Why does the minister find it acceptable for this to happen and not provide any support to the people of Scarborough? We matter.

I want to make it crystal clear: After 15 years of inaction by the former Liberal government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, Scarborough is no more a forgotten part of the city of Toronto.

We are building the Scarborough subway, after the Liberals did nothing. We are building the first ever medical school in Scarborough after almost two centuries now. We are building a brand new hospital. We are redeveloping a new emergency department.

And Mr. Speaker, I’ll tell you one thing: We will continue to build transportation; we will continue to build hospitals; we will continue to make Scarborough a better place for everyone—it doesn’t matter where they come from.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, Scarborough is thriving and Scarborough is on the map.

The former Liberal government had 15 years to build transit in Scarborough. What did they do? Absolutely nothing. They talked a lot, but they did nothing.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we have shovels in the ground on the Scarborough subway extension.

The people of Scarborough were ignored for long enough under the Liberal government.

We’re building subways, we’re building hospitals, we’re building a new medical school in Scarborough.

We will take no lessons from the members opposite in the independent Liberal Party on how to invest and build transit in Scarborough.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre.

Yesterday, the Financial Accountability Officer confirmed what we already knew: This government is starving our public health care system. Instead of strengthening our public health system and supporting people who are sick, who are injured, who are in need of care, this government hides health care money in slush funds.

Will the Premier listen to the people of Ontario telling him that their health care system matters, that they want him to keep his promises and spend the money on the care they need?

What will it take for this government to go from words to action, to stop sitting on health care money and get people the care they need?

As I said a number of times, we wanted to build homes as fast as we possibly can. We made a public policy process that was not supported by the people of the province of Ontario, and that is why we decided to move very quickly to return those lands.

But we will not be swayed in our desire to ensure that we build 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario.

We’re in the process of disentangling ourselves from the mess that was left behind by the previous Liberal government.

At the same time, we’re seeing housing starts at their highest level in over 15 years. We’re seeing purpose-built rentals at their highest level in over 15 years. So we’re on the right path of ensuring that we get kids and the next generation out of their parents’ basements and into the homes that they deserve.

I encourage the member to take that very same question back to the next Liberal leadership debate—turn to your left or turn to your right, whatever she is sitting on, and ask her that very same question.

What we’re doing is untangling the mess that was left.

He has the nerve to talk about affordability when, yesterday, the Liberals and NDP teamed up to ensure that the carbon tax stays on groceries. That is the legacy of the Liberals and the NDP. We put more money back in people’s pockets; they take it away.

My question is for the Minister of Red Tape Reduction.

Small businesses are essential in helping to build a stronger Ontario. They provide much-needed jobs and help to support economic growth in our communities. Unnecessary and outdated regulations cause frustrations and delays, and they compromise Ontario’s competitive advantage over other jurisdictions.

That’s why our government must continue to make things better for people and businesses by reducing regulatory burdens, encouraging greater investments, and boosting Ontario’s overall competitiveness.

Can the minister please explain how our government is supporting Ontario businesses to prosper and thrive?

Five years ago, the Premier was caught on video promising to take land out of the greenbelt.

Three years ago, an aide of the Premier and a developer arranged to meet in Las Vegas.

One year ago, an envelope with instructions was handed in at a dinner.

Then, $8.3 billion was given to friends and donors.

Two weeks ago, the Premier apologized for opening up the greenbelt with “a process that moved too fast,” but since they’ve been plotting this for years, it’s like being sorry your getaway car got a speeding ticket. He apologized for going too fast to avoid apologizing for the real problem: corruption.

To the Premier: My question is very—

But for clarification, if I refer to a process, is that okay or not?

Interjections.

People are struggling, and it’s the job of this government to help them and not demoralize them, by enriching their friends.

The greenbelt scandal has clearly been years in the making.

Mr. Speaker, my question—through you to the Premier—is, very simply, when did you lose your way?

As we’ve said many times, the FAO opinions are not actually representative of actual government spending—but don’t take it from me; just look back at all of the past predictions, which have been wrong. Anyone waiting and wanting to see accurate numbers has only to look at the public accounts. The public accounts show that health care spending has increased $2.7 billion last year and that this government has increased health care spending by $16 billion since coming to office in 2018.

After years of neglect by previous governments, we are investing in health care infrastructure, getting shovels in the ground on over 50 hospital developments—including 3,000 new hospital beds across the province over the next 10 years, and we’re also investing in health human resources and education supports to build those health human resources.

Our government has a plan to improve health care in Ontario, and we’re getting it done.

Our plan has reduced the surgical backlog to below pre-pandemic levels—but we haven’t stopped there. We’ve added our community surgical diagnostic clinics—19,000 cataract operations have happened in the last year alone at those clinics—and the NDP voted against that.

In our 2023 budget, we announced an investment of $30 million to expand and create up to 18 new primary care teams in communities with the greatest need.

And through our Your Health Act, we are cutting red tape to allow health care workers from across Canada and international workers to be qualified to practise here in Ontario.

We have a plan, and it’s working.

The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, the member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

Let me just acknowledge the incredible leadership of the member from Carleton, who has been standing up and holding the school board and, particularly, OSTA to account.

We have taken action from the beginning.

We launched an audit of this board to understand the long-term fiscal sustainability, to make sure parents have reliable, dependable transportation services for their children.

We increased wages to $23 an hour—a significant lift in wages for workers, particularly for our bus drivers; we increased statutory benefits, providing 13%—which did not exist in the past; we’re paying for 10 statutory holidays, which didn’t exist in the past; we’re paying for four days of annual training and dry runs; we are increasing respect for the workers, which is why the Ontario school bus association has endorsed our plan.

For Ottawa, specifically, we provided $75 million, and yet they couldn’t get the job done. The French school boards in the same region, with larger territories and fewer kids, are able to do it. So we’ve now made a clear message to the Ottawa Student Transportation Authority and the school board that we’re auditing them, we’re expecting better, and we’re going to ensure the better delivery and more consistent delivery that the families of Ottawa deserve.

My question is for the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility.

I want take this opportunity to highlight funding provided through the Seniors Community Grant Program to the Markham Museum, a wonderful organization in my riding. Thanks to this investment, the Markham Museum received over $24,000 that will be used to offer programs to help seniors keep healthy and socially connected.

Throughout their lives, seniors have helped build and contribute to Ontario’s quality of life. They deserve opportunities to be involved in activities and programs in their local communities—

Interjections.

Can the minister please share more information about the Seniors Community Grant Program and how it is making a difference for our seniors?

Under the leadership of the Premier and the minister, the Seniors Community Grant Program is making it possible for local organizations to have a direct impact on the lives of seniors in Ontario.

Seniors Community Grants are an amazing way to support unique, community-driven projects. Constituents always contact my office asking about what programs are being offered for seniors and how to access the tools and resources available for them.

Can the minister please share further information about how people and organizations can learn about the programs and services that are available for seniors?

Thank you to the marvellous MPP from Markham–Unionville for the question. He is doing an incredible job in advocating for seniors and making a difference in his riding.

I’d like to thank you again for inviting me to celebrate this exciting news at the Markham Museum. All the staff and volunteers have done an excellent job to create a wonderful attraction for the whole community to enjoy. They will now be able to offer more hands-on programs, like pottery classes for seniors. They are creating opportunities for seniors to get creative, to learn together and be together. What exciting news for our seniors.