The good news for tenants across the province of Ontario is that we have the highest starts with respect to purpose-built rentals that we have seen in over 15 years.

One of the real reasons we’ve had such challenges in the rental market is because people just were not getting into building.

Most people who have rental apartments, frankly, are the moms and pops out there who make investments, whether for their futures—and they bring on new allocations. I know that was something my parents did. They wanted to come here. They worked very hard. They sacrificed a lot. They bought little stores in East York with two apartments on top, and that is how they planned for their retirement.

We have to do our best to support landlords. We have to do our best to support tenants. But the best thing we can do is to bring more supply on. We have rent control across the province of Ontario, which is going nowhere. At the same time, we’re building more supply so that we can bring down the costs, because—it’s a simple fact—when there is more to choose from, those rents will come down.

Most of the landlords across this province are people just like my parents were. Do you know what my parents did? They worked very, very hard seven days a week, and they bought two small properties with apartments on top. Do you know what we did when we were kids? We didn’t go away for March break. We went to those apartments and painted; we fixed them up. That is what we did. My parents weren’t greedy landlords, just as the 80% of landlords who are out there, who do the exact same things that my parents did, are not greedy.

That is the difference between them and us—we don’t think that hard-working people who make investments are greedy. We thank them for the investments that were made. But what we do do is ensure that we hold everybody responsible—both tenants and landlords.

We’re working together to bring more supply online. I know that the Attorney General also increased resources at the landlord and tenant tribunal. Do you know why? Because we can do more for all people in Ontario.

To the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism: There’s a rent strike in his riding, with thousands of tenants coming together to form a tenants’ union. They are fighting expensive, above-guideline rent increases by their corporate landlords. His tenants are feeling unprotected, and they are desperate and angry because the rents have become so unaffordable over the past six years in Ontario. They know that this Conservative government voted against real rent control and took away their final tenant protections.

To the minister, on behalf of your struggling tenants and those across Ontario: Will you bring back real rent control for all homes, including those built after 2018?

People are struggling. They are frustrated with surging rents, broken elevators, mouldy walls, leaky faucets, and many other maintenance issues that are plaguing their buildings, that are not being fixed by greedy corporate landlords. This is leading to hundreds of demoviction applications in the city of Toronto alone. This is going to displace tens of thousands of people from their rent-controlled homes—the cheapest, most affordable apartments in Ontario.

To the minister: What will you do to stop the housing affordability crisis in Ontario? And will you protect everyday Ontarians from greedy corporate landlords?