Mr. Speaker, this week is the Small Business Week celebration, and I am happy to announce that we are having a business forum right here at Queen’s Park. I’m hosting a small business forum here. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy; 67% of the private labour force in this country is employed by them. I would like to welcome speakers from Digital Main Street, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business—

I too want to give a very warm welcome to my predecessor, former MPP for Parkdale–High Park, Cheri DiNovo.

I would like to extend a very warm welcome to the members of SEIU Healthcare who are here today, in particular E.S. Pohler, Teresa Wheeler, who I met with this morning, and Michael Spitale. Thank you for looking after us and the people that we love and care for.

It’s a privilege to rise and recognize a great initiative and a passionate team of volunteers helping their community during the Halloween season. As we all know, Halloween is a time for trick-or-treaters, jack-o’-lanterns, scary costumes and haunted houses. To prepare for Halloween, my wife and I had the pleasure of attending the Ghost Walk for Charity held in Cornwall, Speaker.

If you like to be scared and see spooky things, you do not want to miss this event. The suspense-filled charity walk definitely got my wife and I ready for Halloween. Now my kids want to be spooked.

The Ghost Walk for Charity is an initiative led by Michael Turcotte, who is a dedicated community member with a long history of supporting and volunteering his time to many local charities and organizations. For years, people would flock to Michael’s home in Cornwall to walk through his haunted garage, and from that was born the initiative. This year’s sixth annual Ghost Walk for Charity is being held every Thursday through Saturday evening and a non-scary option every Saturday and Sunday at the Cornwall Square.

Over the last five years, I’m proud to share that this event has donated well over $100,000 to worthy organizations. This year’s proceeds will go to benefit the children’s treatment centre, the Cornwall Hospice, Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, Cornwall Canada Day, Cornwall Comfort Quilts and Centre 105. I’d like to encourage all to attend this spooky event that has provided so much support over the years to great charities and organizations.

I beg to inform the House that I have today laid upon the table a request by the member for Davenport to the Honourable J. David Wake, Integrity Commissioner, for an opinion pursuant to sections 2, 3, 4 and 6 of the Members’ Integrity Act, 1994, on whether the member for Mississauga East–Cooksville, Kaleed Rasheed, has contravened the act or Ontario parliamentary convention.

Introduction of visitors?

There are still members on both sides of the House who want to introduce guests. Does anyone object to me continuing to allow members on both sides of the House to introduce their guests? We will continue.

I’d like to welcome our chair, Wayne Emmerson, from York region as well as all the mayors and regional councillors and councillors from York region. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

We have quite a few people from different community health centres: Sarah Hobbs, who is from the Alliance for Healthier Communities; James Huff from Belleville and Quinte West Community Health Centre; Marc Bisson, Centre de santé communautaire de l’Estrie; Estelle Duchon, Centre francophone du Grand Toronto; Michelle Carr, Community Health Centres of Northumberland; Kim Fraser, Davenport-Perth Neighbourhood and Community Health Centre; Melissa Kwiatkowski, Guelph Community Health Centre; Jeanie Argiropoulos, Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities; Alex Hector, South East Grey Community Health Centre; Charis Romilly Turner, Stonegate Community Health Centre; Michelle Joseph, Unison Health and Community Services; Kimberley Floyd, WellFort Community Health Services; and Andy Kroeker, West Elgin Community Health Centre. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

To reply, the government House leader and the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Interjections.

Start the clock. Supplementary question?

The final supplementary.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs can respond.

Interjection: Point of order, Speaker.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The Leader of the Opposition has the floor.

I’d like to recognize the parents of the page from Brampton East. Gurkaram Dhillon’s parents are here: Karmjit Dhillon and Harvinder Dhillon. They’re just seated in the members’ gallery over there.

It’s my honour to rise and introduce my good friend, and a young leader, Carlos Cabeneros from Scarborough. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I, as well, would like to welcome all the members from the Alliance for Healthier Communities, especially executive director Sarah Hobbs.

I’d like to remind all—to welcome you to the reception that I’m proud to sponsor in room 228 at 11:45.

I trust that the Integrity Commissioner will do whatever work he needs to do.

At the same time, there’s no doubt—it’s pretty understandable why the Leader of the Opposition is looking backwards, because she doesn’t want to look forward. Because when she does look forward, she’ll see what is happening in the province of Ontario.

It’s actually fitting that we have a delegation here from York region, because in York region we’re building schools, where they closed them; we’re building roads where they couldn’t; we’re building transit and transportation, including a subway that the Liberals failed on for 15 long years. Our economy is booming in the area. Our farmers are doing better because of the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

They want to look backwards. We’ll look forwards. But, really, the entire party’s premise for being is about looking backwards. It’s never about looking forwards. They’re a backward party, and that is why the people of the province of Ontario look to Progressive Conservatives to move the economy forward each and every time.

Interjections.

But let’s talk again about what we’re seeing across the province of Ontario, Mr. Speaker. I talked yesterday about how things are challenging. Things can be challenging when you have policies like the Liberals’s and the NDP’s, right? We’re seeing these policies in Ottawa: a carbon tax, which is costing the people of the province of Ontario on literally every single thing that they do. They hold the balance of power in Ottawa. Will they ask the federal NDP to do something about the carbon tax? No, Mr. Speaker. It is the same policies that brought the province of Ontario to its knees under the Liberal and NDP coalition.

It’s fitting that we have York region here again, because since we have been in office—27,000 more jobs in York region and 4,500 tech companies in York region. It is the second-largest tech hub in Canada because of the leadership of this Premier and this minister. And Friday, the Minister of Long-Term Care will be there to open up—

Interjections.

Now, curiously, the Leader of the Opposition told the member to retract and apologize. The member refused to do that. And now we’re seeing that the NDP caucus is in a full-blown revolt against their own leader, refusing to follow the edict of the Leader of the Opposition.

When it comes to leadership, we’ll take the leadership of this Premier, who has brought 700,000 jobs to Ontario, who has removed taxes, who has taken the lowest-income earners off the tax rolls. The economy is booming despite the policies of the Liberals and NDP to hold people back. We’ll continue to get the job done.

My question is to the Premier. For weeks, this side of the House has been trying to get answers from the Conservative government on their greenbelt corruption scandal, and they’ve responded by voting down motions and standing in the way of accountability. They’re now under active criminal investigation by the RCMP.

Yesterday, I again urged the Premier to ask the Integrity Commissioner to get to the bottom of the boys trip his senior staff and former Conservative minister took to Las Vegas.

I’ll ask the Premier again: Will the Premier ask the Integrity Commissioner to investigate the 2020 trip to Vegas?

The former minister and two members of the Premier’s most senior advisers all suspiciously—

The former minister and two members of the Premier’s most senior advisers all told the Integrity Commissioner that their trip was in 2019 when it actually occurred months later. That’s three different people giving the wrong date for the same trip.

So my question, again to the Premier, is, can the Premier explain how three different people could mistakenly give the wrong date for the same trip?

The former minister and the Premier’s senior advisers told the Integrity Commissioner different things about interactions they had with greenbelt speculator Shakir Rehmatullah while on these trips. The former minister said he and the Premier’s staff only saw the greenbelt speculator in the lobby of the hotel. Now we know that they got spa services, including concurrent massages, at the same hotel, at the same time.

So I’m going to go back to the Premier, Speaker. Does the Premier agree that it’s a general rule that members of provincial Parliament should provide honest testimony to the Integrity Commissioner?

Interjections.

Interjections.

My question is also to the Premier. After months of public pressure, this government has finally tabled legislation to reverse its own disastrous greenbelt grab. The Auditor General concluded that this government gave preferential treatment to a select few land speculators in their greenbelt decision. In fact, the government minister was found to have breached ethics law, while another minister was partying in Vegas with a favoured land speculator.

In total, we have seen the departure of three ministers and three senior Conservative staffers, and now a criminal investigation by the RCMP.

To the Premier: What actions will the Premier personally take if criminal charges are laid in his greenbelt scandal?

The Auditor General said that she can’t even call their greenbelt decision a process, but rather an “exercise,” an exercise that the Integrity Commissioner said was “rushed, non-transparent and almost reckless” and “marked by ... unnecessary hastiness and deception.”

Speaker, back to the Premier: How can the people of Ontario trust the government’s rushed, non-transparent and almost reckless decision-making processes?

Interjections.

Thank you for the question, to the member from Scarborough. I’ll tell the member from Scarborough why the people of Scarborough trust us. As we’re building a subway for Scarborough that they never had, the member voted against it. When we’re building a brand new hospital for Scarborough that they haven’t seen in over 50 years, the member voted against it. When we’re building a medical school in Scarborough to graduate more doctors to go into the new hospital in Scarborough, the member voted against it. When we’re building long-term care for the residents of Scarborough, the member voted against it.

But what we voted for—when they were in power, they lost 300,000 jobs, along with the Liberals. Today, there are 700,000 more people working than there were five years ago and thousands of people in Scarborough working that never had a job before.

We’re going to continue making sure we have a strong economy and we’re building the 1.5 million homes that the people of Scarborough—

Interjections.

We’ll let the Integrity Commissioner do his job. But if the Leader of the Opposition wants to talk about accountability, maybe she’ll rise in her place and repeat what she said when the microphone was turned off—because in this place, we are debating this morning a motion about the dignity of this House, the dignity that all members owe to this House and to this Parliament. That’s what the motion this morning is about.

The Leader of the Opposition, by her comments when the mike is turned off, proves that she’s never going to be ready to be Premier of the province of Ontario. It is this Premier who shows leadership each and every day—on the economy, standing up for people. It is this Premier and this caucus that will get the job done.

When they sit down and sit on their hands, we’ll stand up for all of the people in the province of Ontario. You have our word on that. We’ll continue to do it.

Interjections.

But when it comes to moving the economy forward, it is this Premier and this caucus who are getting it done, Mr. Speaker. Do you know who has voted against every single measure to make life more affordable for the people of the province of Ontario? The NDP and the Liberals. Do you know who is responsible for bringing this province to its knees? The Liberals, supported by the NDP. Do you know who is responsible for a crisis in this country of affordability because of carbon taxes, because of out-of-control debts, which are causing high interest rates for all of the people of Canada? It is Liberals, supported by the NDP.

We see the mistakes over and over and over again, because what they love is for people to be dependent on government, and what Conservatives want is for people to have the tools to succeed. What this Premier is ensuring is that people have those tools, and 700,000 people show and have the dignity of a job that—

Interjections.

We have brought forward four housing supply action plans. To do what? Build more homes for the people of the province of Ontario. And do you know who has voted against every single one of them? They have.

Welcome to the party. We’re trying to build more homes for the people of the province of Ontario. We’re doing it across York region. We’re going to do it in Toronto. We’re going to do it in Peel region, despite the fact that the Liberals have a potential leadership candidate who votes against building more homes, Mr. Speaker. You know why? Because that is the legacy of Liberals and NDP: obstacles, obstacles, obstacles. We’re removing those obstacles.

We will get it done. We will build 1.5 million homes. We will not be distracted despite the musings of the Leader of the Opposition supported—

But let there be no doubt. If there is any doubt in the minds of the opposition, if they think that we are going to be distracted from building 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario in every corner of the province, they should think again, Mr. Speaker. That includes in the riding of the member for Scarborough Southwest. It includes in that for the member for Toronto–Danforth. It includes northern Ontario, who have asked me, “Help us build more homes in northern Ontario” to support the mining and the incredible economic development that is going on there. It includes southwestern Ontario, which is seeing more long-term-care homes and more economic activity: battery plants, auto manufacturing. They want more homes to support that economy.

So despite the fact that they’re against it, we’ll continue to get—

It shouldn’t be that hard, Speaker. Members should always be telling the truth, especially to the Integrity Commissioner.

Back to the Premier: A greenbelt speculator went on a trip to Vegas at the same time, at the same hotel, as a senior member of the Premier’s staff and a cabinet minister. What’s worse is that no one can recall the particulars of just how they paid for that trip. The Premier’s former minister paid $4,550 in cash for three flights to Vegas. Rooms at the Wynn Las Vegas apparently go for more than $700 a night. Yet the cabinet minister says he was paid back $2,000 total, in cash, from the Premier’s staff. That doesn’t even cover the cost of the flight.

Who does the Premier think paid for the trip to Vegas?

What measures, if any, has the Premier taken to get to the bottom of what happened in Las Vegas?

Interjections.

Interjections.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The next question.

The supplementary question.

To reply, the Premier.

My question is for the Minister of Colleges and Universities. Ontario colleges have been long recognized as a key economic driver in our province. They help to provide our students with a strong and respected education that contributes greatly to addressing labour market needs. My riding of Brantford–Brant is home to several post-secondary institutions, including Conestoga College’s very own Brantford campus and—very near to my heart—Six Nations Polytechnic.

As the labour market continues to evolve, colleges across the province need to be willing and able to ensure that the education they provide keeps pace with ever-changing labour market needs. Ontario’s colleges are willing, but it is up to our government to ensure that they are able.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting Ontario’s colleges to prepare students for the jobs of the future?