I’d like to welcome some members from CJPAC who are with us today: Rabbi Jenn, Bayla and Jonathan. Thank you very much for coming.

Good morning, Speaker. I’d love to welcome and introduce guests in our House today. They are members from No Demovictions Toronto. I’d like to welcome Lindsay Blackwell plus her two children, Enika, who’s just under two years old, and of course Ellex, who is 10 months, still a baby. I’d like to welcome Nathalie Dooh-Tousignant; Corrine Van Kester; Lee Turner; Annette Trevorrow-Gasher; Theresa, or Terry, Mitchell, and Geoffrey Hayworth. Thank you very much, Speaker, for the opportunity.

Good morning, Speaker. I’m proud to introduce members from the Organic Council of Ontario: Nova Dexter, Kaelin Barichello, Norm Hansen and Ann-Marie Saunders.

I am pleased to encourage all members to join us in room 228 later this evening to celebrate all good, organic things grown in Ontario.

I would like to welcome Bishop Ronald Fabbro, who is the bishop of London from the Diocese of London and is here this morning for the Catholic Health Association of Ontario.

I would like to welcome Charlotte Mickie from University–Rosedale. She is representing No Demovictions Toronto.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Canada Christian College’s appeal, and the ministry is pleased with the court’s decision. There is no further comment on the matter at this time.

I will comment, though: PEQAB submitted their report, and the minister of the day accepted that report and the recommendation for the college to not receive their university status.

This government will stand up against all forms of hate and ensure that all students feel safe on their campuses.

PEQAB submitted their report and the recommendation to not give university status to the college, and the Court of Appeal dismissed Canada Christian College’s appeal. There’s no further comment on the matter at this time.

To the Premier: This morning, CBC Hamilton—

Interjections.

Premier, are ministers in your cabinet taking direction from speculators?

Minister of Colleges and Universities to reply.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Interjections.

The member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas has the floor.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The then Minister of Colleges and Universities said the process and their actions were “the most transparent thing that could exist.”

Now, a leaked recording of a phone call between McVety and that same minister found the minister was working overtime to help McVety get his school accredited, even asking him to make the submission “as easy as possible for me to sign off no matter what.”

Back to the Premier: Is the Premier concerned about the ongoing pattern of preferential treatment his friends are receiving?

I have another quote for you, Speaker. Weeks after that recorded phone call, that minister told this House, “We cannot interfere with these types of procedural safeguards. It’s wrong. It violates the principles of fundamental justice.” But privately, he was telling McVety something very different: “We’re going to guide this process through and we are going to make sure you got to where you wanted to go, and right where you want it to get.”

Back to the Premier: Why was your government saying one thing to the people and a different thing behind closed doors?

This time, we’re going to talk about urban boundary changes.

To the Premier: Two weeks ago, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing was asked whether he would reverse the forced expansion of Hamilton’s urban boundaries. He said, “No, Mr. Speaker, I will not reverse the expansion of the urban boundaries.” But just two weeks later, the minister suddenly reversed course.

To the Premier: What spooked his minister so much that he would completely reverse a position he was doubling down on just two weeks ago?

Last week, we asked the minister about this government’s overuse of ministerial zoning orders to give preferential treatment to their favourite speculators. Once again, the minister doubled down and defended his government’s abuse of MZOs. Now he’s reviewing them.

Back to the Premier: Why does it take an RCMP investigation for this government to understand why preferential treatment is wrong?

Interjections.

Today the CBC reported that certain amendments to Hamilton’s official plan were written word for word by a well-connected developer and Conservative donor, Sergio Manchia, the very same Sergio Manchia who received preferential treatment in the greenbelt grab, the very same speculator who bought tickets to the now-infamous stag and doe from the head of the Conservatives’ fundraising team. The Integrity Commissioner’s report has evidence the Premier repeatedly called Mr. Manchia prior to the changes to the greenbelt and Hamilton’s official plan.

Speaker, back to the Premier: In any of those phone calls, did the Premier discuss changes to Hamilton’s official plan with Mr. Manchia?

The supplementary question.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

I know who I take my direction from: the people of the province of Ontario. That’s where I take my direction from. And when I hear parents tell me that they have kids who have 21 offers on homes and are not even in the game, I know I have to double down and do even more. And do you know who else knows that? All of the Progressive Conservatives who are sitting in this chamber. We are completely focused on one thing: making life more affordable for people in the province of Ontario, building 1.5 million homes so that the next generation of Ontarian families can have the exact same dream that almost every one of us in this chamber have, and that’s the dream of home ownership. It is why millions of people have chosen to come to the province of Ontario—in her own community.

So to the member opposite, I saw very clearly: We will not stop working on behalf of the people of this province, we will not stop building a bigger, better, stronger province of Ontario, even if that means rolling over the radical NDP who simply say no to everything. If it was up to them, we’d be back in 1933, and we won’t let that happen.

So what are we doing? We’re building more homes for people and we’re removing obstacles so that we can get more homes built for people in the province of Ontario. We’re cutting taxes so that the lowest-income earners don’t have to pay taxes to the government. Imagine that they voted against it. I’m building long-term-care homes because, as the Minister of Long-Term Care says, we owe a responsibility to those who helped build this province. They’re against that.

Later on today, we will be bringing a motion forward. The member for Chatham-Kent–Leamington will be bringing a motion forward to call on the federal government to remove the carbon tax from fuel, and we are hoping the NDP will do the right thing and vote with us to put more money back in the people’s pockets. I bet you they won’t, and they’ll continue on a destructive path.

Now, to put it in context, they left the province of Ontario back in 1995 with an $11-billion deficit. What’s that? The equivalent of $25 billion in today’s economy? And what did they accomplish? They actually outpaced the Liberals; they accomplished even less than zero.

He’s talking about jobs and opportunity, yet he and his colleague from Sudbury voted against mines and more opportunity for people.

Their plan is predicated on the fact that somehow there is a secret cache of bureaucrats somewhere who are going to go out and start building homes for the people of the province of Ontario. If they’re there, then I will unleash them, but I have not found this secret cache of people. Because do you know who builds social housing? It is the same people that build rental housing. It is the same people that build the homes that all of us live in.

They say they want to take the profit out of it, but they want to add a tax to it. When we took away development charges on purpose-built rental and the HST, when we said no development charges on social housing, they voted against it.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The policies of the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, saw our tech sector stagnate. Our brightest tech workers were leaving the province and game-changing tech innovations were occurring abroad. Thankfully, our government took office and immediately reversed the Liberal’s anti-business policies.

Now, Ontario is home to one of the fastest-growing tech hubs in the world. Ontario’s Critical Technology Initiatives are one of the measures we are implementing to remain a global tech leader. Can the minister please speak to the importance of our critical technology initiatives and some of the projects it has supported?

Can the minister please elaborate on other investments recently made by our government to critical technology initiatives?

À une époque, cette province construisait des logements hors marché. L’Ontario finançait des dizaines de milliers de logements publics, à but non lucratif et coopératifs chaque année.

C’étaient des maisons construites en fonction des besoins et non pour du profit. Le gouvernement a arrêté en 1995 lorsque, oui, vous vous en doutez, les conservateurs ont abandonné cette responsabilité. Cela a ouvert la voie à notre crise du logement d’aujourd’hui.

Au premier ministre : appuiera-t-il la solution du NPD qui vise à construire des logements hors marché dont notre province a désespérément besoin?

Le logement est un droit humain, monsieur le Président, au même titre que les soins de santé, l’éducation et la sécurité de retraite.

Si le secteur privé ne parvient pas à construire suffisamment de logements abordables pour tous ceux qui en ont besoin, le secteur public doit alors intensifier ses efforts.

Il est clair que le plan du gouvernement ne fonctionne pas. Nous, de ce côté de la Chambre, voulons nous assurer que chaque Ontarien ait un toit digne de ce nom au-dessus de leur tête, un logement qu’il peut arriver à payer sans serrer sa ceinture qui est déjà bien serrée.

Monsieur le Président, revenons au premier ministre : quand le gouvernement commencera-t-il à prendre cette crise de logement au sérieux?

Our government is making strategic investments to ensure that Ontario is at the forefront of global tech innovation through our $107-million critical technology initiatives. We’re accelerating the development, commercialization and use of important technologies like cyber security and AI. This includes a $5-million investment we made to support CCTX’s Ontario Cybersecurity Excellence Initiative. This will help companies across the province develop and adopt cyber security technologies, help them to become more competitive, grow and create good-paying jobs. Speaker, we are making sure Ontario is a global leader in tech innovation and ensuring that businesses have access to the technology they need to remain competitive.

The Premier reminds me every day: We have 414,000 tech workers here in the province of Ontario because we’re building this world-class ecosystem to make sure those technologies are developed right here in Ontario.

The people of Hamilton wish you would just stop taking direction from speculators. That’s what we wish in Hamilton.

These are not just any speculators that the Premier took direction from, but the exact people who were at his daughter’s stag and doe. They’re the same people interviewed by office of the Legislature because of preferential treatment in the greenbelt grab. Ancaster councillor Craig Cassar said it best: “It is entirely undemocratic for the province to accommodate for-profit interest that are in complete contradiction to the public interest.”

So how many changes to official plans came directly, work for word, from speculators?

Interjections.

That is a lie.

I want to thank my colleague for the question. Speaker, I want to be very clear: We expect everyone to uphold public health and property standards, especially when it comes to housing the most vulnerable in our communities. All landlords and housing providers have a legal responsibility to provide safe and habitable homes to their tenants. That’s the law.

We’re tackling the issue from both sides. My colleague the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing is creating more opportunities for at-risk people to receive the critical supports they need, and our government has made two of the largest increases to ODSP programs in the program’s history, putting more money into ODSP recipients.

This year, we’re investing $2.1 billion to fund accommodation that meets the needs of adults with developmental disabilities. That’s an increase of nearly half a billion dollars since 2018, when we formed government. Mr. Speaker—

We will stop at nothing to hold those accountable who do not protect the people of this province, especially our most vulnerable. The only problem is, every single initiative that we put forward to provide supports for the people of Ontario the opposition votes against. They’ll come here and ask for things, but when we put bills forward that support Ontarians, especially our most vulnerable, the NDP constantly—

Speaker, through you to the Premier: This afternoon, this House will vote on my bill, the Protecting Vulnerable Persons in Supportive Living Accommodation Act. Once again, I want to thank Welland city councillor Bonnie Fokkens and Carolyn Fast for being here today. If passed, it will provide a regulatory framework requiring all supportive living home operators to be licensed and allow for inspection and complaint protocols.

The Toronto Star’s investigation into unregulated supportive living homes revealed gut-wrenching conditions. In just one home, they found rats, mould, bedbugs and soiled mattresses, and there have been deaths due to fire.

Will this government support this legislation?

Following the death of a tenant in London in an unregulated supportive living home, the city acted quickly to put bylaws in place, but municipalities want provincial regulations. Will this government listen to its municipal partners, pass my bill and bring it back from committee as quickly as possible before we see more deaths of vulnerable persons in Ontario’s supportive living accommodations?

Thank you to the member from Brantford–Brant for the question. Thanks to our government, the opportunities for the Ontario mining industry have never been better than they are right now. This is the result of our plan to make Ontario the leading mining jurisdiction in Canada. We have made strategic investments like the $35 million in the Ontario Junior Exploration Program and $5 million in the Critical Minerals Innovation Fund. We have passed the Building More Mines Act to cut through red tape to ensure that government operates at the pace of business. The response from industry has been overwhelmingly positive, and we are just getting started.

Even though we all know how important mining is for the economy, the NDP voted no to every investment and every red tape initiative we have done to support this sector. It’s a shameful record, Speaker.

We know we can’t do this without strong industry partners like the Ontario Mining Association. I invite all members to join the Meet the Miners reception with the OMA at 5 p.m. today at the Sheraton Hotel. I encourage everyone, including the opposition, to come and learn about the sector—which is a sector they clearly have lost faith in.

The future of our economy is evolving right now, but none of it can happen without mining. Everyone needs to vote yes to mining.