I would like to welcome Dr. Boyce from St. Catharines and the Niagara region, from the Ontario Dental Association. I look forward to meeting with you this afternoon. Welcome to your House.

It is my pleasure to extend a warm welcome to Vivienne Jiang, who is here with us today as the proud mother of Owen Rao. Owen is one of our legislative pages, from St. Charles Garnier Catholic Elementary School, and he is representing my riding of Richmond Hill.

Yesterday, the government House leader took all the Premier’s questions—so I was going to try again, to see if the Premier will actually address the disastrous situation he has landed his government in.

Every month, people are struggling to make ends meet. People need a government that’s going to help them, but instead they are seeing one mired in scandal.

Speaker, the revelations from the government’s $8-billion greenbelt grab are getting more and more serious every single day, and people deserve answers.

Can the Premier confirm that his government is currently under criminal investigation by the RCMP?

Speaker, to the Premier: How can the people of this province trust their government when it’s under an active RCMP criminal investigation?

When a government is embattled in this much scandal, it is bad for businesses; it is bad for the economy.

What kind of precedent does it set if people think that succeeding in Ontario is about your connections rather than your merit? It is shameful.

I made this point yesterday, and I want to remind the government again, that the special unit at the RCMP that is investigating the Premier and his government’s actions investigates elected officials on “fraud, financial crimes, corruption and breach of trust.”

Back to the Premier of this province: How can the Premier maintain the confidence of the people when his government is being investigated by the RCMP?

Interjections.

I’m going to get very specific here, Speaker. On September 14, 2022, a senior staffer for this government received greenbelt removal packages from developers at a dinner. The next day, this staffer sought clarity directly from the Premier, his chief of staff and the former housing minister. The Premier and his chief of staff claimed they don’t recall this meeting.

Will the Premier let us know what was discussed in that meeting with Ryan Amato on September 15, 2022?

Interjections.

We have a Premier who still won’t come clean or answer that question.

Over three days in September, this government went from a rough notion of a policy framework on the greenbelt to specific properties being identified for removal. Day one: the BILD dinner where developers identified properties for removal from the greenbelt. Day two: a meeting with the Premier and housing minister and their staff on the greenbelt—mysteriously, no one can recall the details of this meeting. Day three: The Ministry of Housing moves forward with site-specific removals and identified three properties. These properties accounted for 91% of the land this government attempted to remove from the greenbelt, and two of those properties were identified by developers at the BILD dinner.

Speaker, I’m going to ask again: What caused this government to make a policy 180 on the greenbelt file from September 14 to September 16?

Interjections.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and government House leader.

Final supplementary.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The next question.

Stop the clock.

Interjections.

I’ll remind the members of the House that interjections are out of order—always out of order, as a matter of fact—and I have to be able to hear the member who legitimately has the floor. All of us should listen to each other, listen to the member who has the floor.

Start the clock.

Leader of the Opposition.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

As I said yesterday, we stand ready to assist the RCMP as they undertake a review. At this point, we have not been contacted by the RCMP.

The Leader of the Opposition, in her first question, talked about affordability. Imagine an NDP Leader of the Opposition talking about affordability when she and her party have voted against every single measure that would put more money back in the pockets of the people of the province of Ontario. They actually voted against—remember the LIFT tax credit. For those colleagues who were here in the last Parliament—they will know that we introduced the LIFT tax credit, which virtually eliminated the lowest income earners from having to pay taxes to the province of Ontario. They voted against it, because there’s a fundamental difference between them and us. They want people to rely on government and to be dependent on government. We want to give people the tools to succeed. And each and every day that is what we’re doing—working for the people of the province of Ontario to give them the tools to succeed. And that’s why 700,000 people have the dignity of a job—

Interjections.

Yesterday, this minister, along with the Premier, announced another over $2 billion in investment in the province of Ontario. Do you know who has confidence in the people of the province of Ontario? Investors around the world who have given over $27 billion of investment to this economy. Do you know who has confidence in this government? The over 700,000 people who have the dignity of a job—that they didn’t when they and they were in power. That is what we’re doing.

Do you know what the Leader of the Opposition can do to help us on affordability? She can call her leader in Ottawa and say, “Take the 14.3 cents a litre on gas off. Help us remove the carbon tax to put even more money back in the pockets of the people of Ontario.”

Will they do it? No, because they don’t care about the people of the province of Ontario—

Interjections.

As I’ve said on a number of occasions, we made a public policy decision that wasn’t supported by the people of the province of Ontario. That is why I introduced legislation yesterday to reverse that, Mr. Speaker.

But do you know what’s an insult to the people of the province of Ontario? Every time they go to the gas pump and they’re paying an extra 14.3 cents a litre because of the NDP and the Liberals; when they go to the grocery store and they see that the price of vegetables is higher—why? Because of the Liberals and the NDP and a carbon tax. When they open their gas bills over the winter season and they see the carbon tax on each of those bills, that’s an insult to the people of the province of Ontario.

If the Leader of the Opposition really wants to respect the people of the province of Ontario, she’ll call her federal leader in Ottawa and say, “Work with us. Let’s remove the carbon tax on the things that matter to the people of the province of Ontario. Let’s make this country more affordable, because we can do it.”

Colleagues, the leader of the NDP said that she doesn’t believe a carbon tax is costing the people of the province of Ontario anything. So I ask my colleagues, do you believe it’s costing us more? Yes—

Interjections.

I was speaking to Larry Simpson in my riding, a magnificent potato farmer, who was talking about a great crop this year, but the cost of taking that crop out of the ground and then delivering it across the province of Ontario is exorbitant. The cost of heating the potatoes over the winter to keep them available for delivery is incredible, and it’s because of the carbon tax.

If the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t believe that it is costing the people of Canada enormously, I ask her to call a few people who are struggling each and every day because of a carbon tax.

But we’ll continue to work for all people, to put more money—

They can talk about it as much as they want—what they really are saying, and we all know it, is that they want to put obstacles in the way of building more homes for the people of the province of Ontario, because they were so effective at doing it with the Liberals, right? They were so effective at putting obstacles in the way that they put Ontario into a housing crisis. Every single year that we have been in office, we have put measures on the floor of this Legislature to remove those obstacles, and they have voted against it. But we will not stop.

We will continue to make life more affordable for the people of the province of Ontario. We will continue to fight against carbon taxes. We will continue to build infrastructure. We will continue to build long-term care. We will continue to build roads so that we can get our product to market faster. And we will continue to see massive investments, like the over $27 billion that has come to Ontario, that has created over 700,000 jobs. That is what we’ll continue to do each—

I’ll tell you what we have here—we have the mayor of Brantford here. Do you know what he’s excited about? He’s excited about the groundbreaking of a brand new long-term-care home in his riding. That’s what he’s excited about. He’s excited about the jobs and opportunity that come with that investment. Do you know who never brought that investment? It was the Liberals and the NDP—because in their time, they brought 611. There are more long-term-care beds being built in that community, in Brantford, than there were in the entire province of Ontario when they had the opportunity.

That’s what people are excited about. It’s not a rant. It’s fact. And that’s what the people of Ontario care about.

Interjections.

It is they who have been dragging their heels, voting against every single measure that would grow the economy. They dragged their heels when it came to investing in hospitals, building new hospitals, refurbishing some of the old hospitals. They dragged their heels and continue to drag their heels when we talk about building the 413. They’re absolutely dead set against people bringing their product to market. They have voted against the investments that we’re making to bring back our auto sector. They have voted against the expansion of our colleges and universities. They voted against the changes that we’re making to our education curriculum that are finally seeing results for our students, who stagnated over 15 years of policies of the Liberals and NDP.

So when she talks about dragging your heels—the only people who are dragging their heels are the Liberals and NDP, a coalition of the doomed that saw this province brought to its knees.

We’re rebuilding this province and we’ll continue to do it, and 700,000—

Interjections.

Speaker, I understand that the Premier and the government House leader don’t want to address the questions about the RCMP criminal investigation of their government.

I bet the RCMP won’t accept that the Premier can’t recall—I know that the people of Ontario and I don’t buy it.

It’s not just September 15—there were a number of meetings between the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the Premier’s office, the Cabinet Office and the Premier’s chief of staff. The Cabinet Office booked a meeting on September 7. On September 21, there was a meeting to discuss site-specific removals. An hour-long conversation between the Premier’s chief of staff and Mr. Amato on September 23—I could go on.

Does the Premier really expect people to believe he had nothing to do with this?

Two senior members of the Premier’s staff and a minister of his went down to Vegas with a greenbelt speculator and may have “misled” the Integrity Commissioner about it.

Will the Premier use the ability his cabinet has to ask for a full inquiry from the Integrity Commissioner into the Vegas affair?

This boys’ trip to Vegas, with its massage tables and its good luck rituals and its manis and pedis, made international headlines. How embarrassing.

This government wasted no time asking the Integrity Commissioner to look into the actions of a staff member, Mr. Amato. They promised that they would look to the Integrity Commissioner to investigate the actions of someone else who was on that trip—the member for Mississauga East−Cooksville, a former Conservative minister—but they don’t seem to have taken any action.

Back to the Premier: Is his government dragging its heels because the Premier himself has something to hide?

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

The previous Liberal government left Ontario fully unprepared for the electric vehicle future. They allowed thousands of auto manufacturing jobs to leave this province and watched as the electric vehicle supply chain was being built somewhere else.

Thankfully, our government recognized that our province has everything we need right here to build a resilient, end-to-end EV supply chain right here in Ontario. That’s why we’ve seen more than $26 billion in auto and EV-related investments in just the last three years, including a huge investment we welcomed from Umicore just yesterday in Loyalist township, my home.

Can the minister please discuss Umicore’s recent investment and what this will mean for the people of Loyalist township, Lennox and Addington county, and all of Ontario?

Speaker, we were in the member’s riding yesterday, along with Premier Ford, and we turned the sod at a historic $2.8-billion plant, where Umicore will make battery cathode components. This is an expansion of their previously announced $1.5-billion facility. But we’re not just building a plant; we are building Ontario’s future. They are hiring 1,000 workers for two years to build the facility. This will be one of the largest employers in all of eastern Ontario. They will have 600 sought-after, good-paying career jobs. They will hire 700 apprentices—student co-ops. This is the first type of this EV battery supplier in all of North America.

Welcome, Umicore.

Well, just think about where we were five years ago. We had an auto sector that was failing, no plans for EV production. But under the leadership of Premier Ford, we have a plan. It’s called Driving Prosperity, and it’s a plan to make Ontario the EV global centre. We started with all the current automakers—success. We then attracted two major battery manufacturers—success. Now, after $27 billion of investment, we’re working on all of the major supply chain. Umicore is the first of many component suppliers for our EV revolution.

Think of this, Speaker: We went from zero to $27 billion in three years—that’s why Bloomberg named Ontario as the number two in the global EV supply chain.

We are building things here in the province of Ontario, and we’re leading.

I want to make one thing clear: Our government holds appointments to the highest regard. This is why this individual in question is no longer an appointee of the government.

Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about the opposition and the standards that this Leader of the Opposition holds her caucus to, following the disturbing comments a certain member of the opposition made this previous week regarding the situation and the massacre in Israel. However, while the opposition continues to coddle this individual, our government is doing the real work, and we are defending Ontario’s biodiversity, building Ontario’s common resiliency and protecting species at risk.

But when we talk about leadership, we are empowering conservationists, empowering ecologists, empowering biologists—not politicians—to make large-scale strategic investments in protecting species at risk here in Ontario. We’re making direct investments in protecting species at risk and the species at risk stewardship program. For instance, we’ve engaged over 14,000 volunteers in conservation efforts and created 1,700 jobs. This is how our government is building Ontario and protecting species at risk. And we’ve restored over 42,000 acres of habitat for species at risk, equal to nearly 100,000 hockey rinks.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business.

As Small Business Week gets under way, thousands of small businesses across Ontario, including the ones in my riding of Mississauga–Erin Mills, are looking for ways to sustain and grow their businesses.

Small businesses are the economic backbone of com-munities across our province. However, starting and growing a business is hard work. Business owners and entrepreneurs need real supports and resources that will help them to be innovative and to expand their businesses. That’s why our government must continue to help small businesses so they can provide jobs to people from their communities. When small businesses grow and thrive, all of Ontario succeeds.

Can the associate minister please explain how our government is supporting small businesses across Ontario?

Unfortunately, the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, gave up on small businesses, resulting in hundreds of thousands of jobs leaving our province. Countless opportunities were lost due to the previous Liberal government’s agenda of high taxes and red tape.

Fortunately, our government is determined to create the right conditions for new businesses to start up and succeed in our province. That’s why our government must remain committed to making investments that will help provide business owners with the resources they need.

Can the associate minister please explain how our government is supporting the development of new businesses in Ontario?

I really want to thank the member for Mississauga–Erin Mills for the question.

This Small Business Week, we celebrate the ambition and entrepreneurial spirit of small business owners and their businesses right across our province.

As a former small business owner, I know first-hand the risks and hard work it takes to start and grow a business.

Ontario’s more than 435,000 small businesses are the backbone of our communities, employing more than 2.4 million people. These small businesses exist in towns and cities across our province.

For 2022-23 and 2023-24, we are investing an additional $40 million in the Digital Main Street program, which brings our total investment to over $57 million. To date, Digital Main Street has helped more than 69,000 small businesses create and increase their digital presence. These are real, tangible resources, and small businesses—

Our government understands that small businesses are vital to our economic success and essential to regional communities right across our province. Small businesses make up almost 98% of all businesses in Ontario. From family-owned corner stores to brand new start-ups, everyone knows a small business that has made a difference in their community, and we know we need to create the environment for more of these businesses to launch and succeed.

So far, we’ve provided $3 million to Futurpreneur Canada, and in 2023-24, the government is providing an additional $2 million, bringing our total investment to over $5 million. These investments are critical to our economic success. Now, thousands of young small business owners between the ages of 18 and 39 will be able to access mentorship programs and financial resources.

We will always support and promote our world-class small business sector.

To all of Ontario’s small businesses: Happy Small Business Week, and thank you for all that you do to support us all.

My question is to the Premier. In late August, the Premier appointed Sajjad Hussain to the Species at Risk Program Advisory Committee. Mr. Hussain is a developer with no apparent credentials with respect to species at risk. He has also been accused of unlawfully misappropriating millions of dollars from his company for his own personal use.

Why did the Premier appoint Mr. Hussain to this government committee when he knew, or should have known, about these disturbing allegations?

Was Mr. Hussain’s donor record the reason for the Premier’s willingness to overlook the very serious allegations against Mr. Hussain?

Thank you to the minister for the answer.

Umicore’s investment is fabulous news for the auto sector and for the hard-working people of Loyalist township and all of eastern Ontario.

Our government recognizes the massive economic benefits that will stem from Ontario being a global leader in electric vehicle production. That’s why we’ve been laser-focused on securing generational investments like the one from Umicore.

Speaker, will the minister please elaborate on what Umicore’s investment means to our end-to-end EV supply chain?

The supplementary question.

To quote Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

The Auditor General and the Integrity Commissioner identified irregularities in the way the greenbelt lands were awarded to developers. Proper processes and regulations were not followed. Public information was restricted, and bid fairness protocols were ignored when they favoured their wealthy insider friends and donors. And now the RCMP has launched a criminal investigation into this $8.2-billion greenbelt scandal.

Now we learn that the government has signed a 95-year lease to allow the building of a luxury exclusive European spa on Ontario Place lands by wealthy connected insiders, with no evidence of due diligence.

My question to the Premier is, with all the similarities between the greenbelt and the Ontario Place projects, how can the people of Ontario believe that this isn’t the exact same game?

Again, my question remains the same: How can the people of Ontario have confidence that the same thing that happened with the greenbelt lands is not happening once again with Ontario Place?

Do you know what I did when I was the Minister of Long-Term Care and that I would do as Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing? I gave preferential treatment to tear down a home that should have been torn down ages ago, but the Liberals and NDP refused to do it.

What we want to do in Pickering is tear down an old, outdated home that still has ward rooms in it and build a brand new long-term-care home. That’s what we’re doing in Pickering. It’s the same MZO that I wanted to do in Port Hope—tear down two old homes that aren’t even sprinklered and replace them with brand new long-term-care homes.

And here you have it, on the floor of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: The people of Ontario can see quite clearly that they don’t even want to build brand new long-term-care homes for the people of the province of Ontario. They vote against literally everything.

So will I stop doing MZOs to build new long-term-care homes? No, in fact, I’ll go just in the opposite direction. If I can do it better—

Interjections.

We’re going to continue to build brand new long-term-care homes, and I won’t let obstacles stand in the way. So when this Minister of Long-Term Care comes to me and says, “I want to tear down an old home and replace it with a brand new one,” I will say yes.

This is the very same party that held the balance of power for four years in this place—and did they make investments in long-term care? No.

If you want blood on your hands, look in the mirror. You had the option to do something—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, I’m actually very pleased to take this specific question.

I would like to reference an article from July 2, 2018, in the Globe and Mail, written by Jeff Gray:

“The previous Ontario government was in the final stages of selecting a private sector bidder to redevelop Ontario Place when it was forced to put the negotiations on hold....

“Sources said the top three submissions included one from Therme, a German spa-and-water park company which would have included a new beach.”

Thank you for asking me this question.

We will do something that they were not capable of doing—and that is bring Ontario Place back to life and make it a place that everyone can enjoy 365 days of the year.