It’s bring-your-kids-to-work day, and for some of our staff too. I’m really happy to introduce Nivine Zaher and her son, Moe, and Heather Douglas with her daughter, Evangeline. Welcome to your House.

It’s a real honour to welcome Elana Harte, Carine Nind, Jessika Kunkle and all the folks from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada to Queen’s Park today.

I would like to introduce Ms. Zoe Luo from my riding, who is a friend of one of our Sergeants-at-Arms here.

To complement the member opposite’s introductions, in the members’ gallery, from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada, we have Tim Ross, Courtney Lockhart, Allison Chase, Cassia Kantrow, Mary Ann Hannant and April White. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my pleasure to introduce to the House today, from the Golden Horseshoe Co-operative Housing Federation, Doug Sider, Willy Noiles, Monica Brodeur, Janice Fisher and Lisa Britton. Welcome to your House. Thank you for building homes, and thank you for building community.

I would like to introduce my assistant, Wendy Wei, and my guest, Jimmy Lin, who is a high school student. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s an honour to introduce my staff member Rangina Kargar, who was an MP in Afghanistan before the Taliban came and took over; she had to flee to Canada. She has brought her son, Homan Kargar, to Queen’s Park for bring-your-kids-to-work day.

I’m looking for him, but it’s been more than 30 years since I’ve seen him: He’s my former camp director, John Malcolmson. We called him “Malc.” He’s the executive director for Scleroderma Ontario.

That’s okay. Thank you, Speaker.

I wanted to introduce some residents from Oakville. We have Carole Baxter, who is the Halton District School Board trustee for wards 1 and 2, and her son, Isaac. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I, too, would like to welcome the members from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. Thank you for coming to Queen’s Park and helping twist some arms to build housing.

I’d like to welcome representatives from Scleroderma Canada and Scleroderma Ontario who are here today for a series of meetings, and they hosted many earlier this morning for a breakfast.

Please join me in welcoming John Malcolmson, Scott Munnoch, Karol Bedoya-Carvajal, Erin Stanhope, Stephanie Densmore-Farmsworth, Maggie Larche, Tanawan Sukonthapanich, Marta Braga, Jasmeet Kaur, Maureen Sauvé, Silvia Petrozza, Scott and Tracey Heard, Hurmat Ahmad, and Nancee and Merle Henry.

I also want to welcome friends from the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada: Caroline Chapman, Dawn Richardson, Diana Yoon, Patricia Tessier and Courtney Lockhart from the great riding of Ottawa Centre.

I also want thank the Scleroderma Society of Ontario for a fantastic breakfast this morning and for your wonderful advocacy. Thanks for all you do.

I’d like to welcome to Queen’s Park today the Indo-Canadian Council for Arts and Culture, the Toronto Malayalee Samajam and the Indo-Canada Kerala Chamber of Commerce. They are going to be hosting a Kerala Day lunch reception right here in room 228, starting after question period. Everybody is welcome.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I didn’t realize introductions were finished.

I am seeking unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(iv), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to speak during private members’ public business today.

As we’ve said on a number of occasions, and as has been confirmed by both the Integrity Commissioner and the Auditor General, the Premier of course did not have knowledge of the lands with respect to the greenbelt. But at the same time, I’ve also been very, very clear that I was unhappy with the political staff involvement with respect to the official plans. That is why I briefed the Premier on it, and he asked me to repeal the provincial changes to those official plans. We’ve done that, and we’re moving forward to make sure that we can build 1.5 million homes by working with our municipal partners. We’ll get that job done.

We made a decision with respect to the greenbelt that was not accepted by the people of the province of Ontario. That is why we reversed that decision. At the same time, after reviewing the changes to the official plans that were made by the province, the decision was made that there was too much involvement from political staff in that. That’s why, after I was given the opportunity to brief the Premier on that, he asked me to repeal the provincial changes. We’re doing that.

At the same time, our municipalities will have the opportunity to provide additional comment over the next 45 days to some of the changes that they would like to see in those original official plans that they had provided some years ago.

We will move forward. We will continue to ensure that we can meet our goal of building 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario.

At the same time, as I said, this particular gentleman and others who own lands in the greenbelt have been advocating for years to have lands taken out of the greenbelt. They’ve met with many Premiers and many members of all parties.

We made a public policy decision that was not supported by the people. Ultimately, what we’re trying to do is build 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario. We’ve reversed the greenbelt decision, Mr. Speaker.

But let me also be very, very clear: We will not stop on our goal of building 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario. We will double down. We will work with our municipal friends to ensure that we build those 1.5 million homes. We will hold our municipal partners accountable, and at the same time we will hold developers and home builders accountable with a new “use it or lose it.” We’re in a crisis and we will get the job done.

At the same time, we are going to continue to move forward on our goal of building 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario.

Look, Speaker, we are in a housing crisis in the province of Ontario ostensibly because the Liberals and NDP put obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in the way of building homes. We became one of the least enviable jurisdictions in order to do business. In fact, industries that had been the pillar of Ontario’s economy for decades had said that they could no longer do business in the province of Ontario.

That all changed in 2018 when we doubled down to ensure that we cut red tape, that we reduce taxes for our small, medium and large job creators, that we reduce taxes for families, making life more affordable for them. It is the Liberals and the NDP who stand against families and stand against affordability. We’re going to do all that we can to improve the economy and keep it growing.

The mayor of Stouffville asked for them to be redesignated as part of the official plan. The region of York pulled that out, Mr. Speaker, and that’s where we’re at.

It is so important that we continue to build on our goal of 1.5 million—they’re going to stand in the way of all of it. It’s no secret, right? They’re against ministerial zoning orders that build social housing in their ridings. They’re against ministerial zoning orders that build long-term care. They’re literally against everything that is moving the province forward.

They have cornered the market on saying no. We have cornered the market on building a bigger, better and stronger province of Ontario, and we’ll double down to do it.

Ms. Collard is seeking the unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(iv), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to speak during private members’ public business today. Agreed? Agreed.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. Providing honest testimony under oath is a core principle of justice in this province. I hope that’s something we can all agree on. The Premier told the Integrity Commissioner that he was “not immediately familiar” with greenbelt speculator Sergio Manchia because, apparently, he meets thousands of people, he said. Yet senior political staff were texting each other that the Premier “needs to stop calling this guy.” My question to the Premier is, what is the nature of his relationship with Sergio Manchia?

My question is to the Premier again. Can the Premier confirm he met with Mr. Manchia in 2021 to discuss site-specific greenbelt removals?

To the Premier: Does the Premier remember Mr. Manchia now? Did he provide assurances he would remove greenbelt lands at a private fundraiser for the Conservative Party?

Interjections.

Back to the Premier: I’m not the only one who is going to be questioning the discrepancy between the Premier’s testimony and the growing mountain of evidence. I would bet that the RCMP’s special prosecutor, who is investigating the alleged criminal corruption by this government, is going to be interested too.

So I would ask the Premier, would the Premier like to take the opportunity to correct the record?

The Premier also testified that he had no conversations—no conversations—about the Gormley GO station area prior to November 4, 2022. But minutes from a meeting on October 13, three weeks earlier, say, “Gormley—decision on areas is with the Premier’s office right now” and goes on to say, by the way, the “Premier doesn’t understand [the lands are] in the Oak Ridges moraine.”

Back to the Premier: Could he clarify his testimony?

The Premier testified he was not involved in any way with site selection before November 2, 2022. He repeated the same claims to the media just yesterday. But now we know he was discussing a site-specific removal with Mr. Manchia a year earlier, and we just keep finding more evidence: meeting notes that say the Premier’s Office wants this done, that the Premier’s Office asked for a picture to make sure it’s captured.

To the Premier: Does he still expect people to believe that he wasn’t involved from the start?

Interjections.

I guess, Speaker, they just want to drag this all out.

An internal document from this week’s latest pile of evidence discusses a change to York region’s official plan that would reclassify 29 hectares of Vaughan lands owned by the Milani family and designate it for future development. These lands are also located within the Oak Ridges moraine in the greenbelt. The document includes commentary from Ryan Amato, who reportedly said that the Premier’s Office “wants this done.”

So this question is to the Premier: Why did his office want this done?

Late last year, the former minister added a “special provision” to York’s official plan just so those specific greenbelt lands could be developed. And remember, those lands were owned by the Milani family. The Milani family and their companies have donated more than $100,000 to the Conservative Party over the last 10 years.

So Speaker, I need to ask, to the Premier: What is the going rate for a lucrative land deal in this province?

Interjections.

Withdraw.

Interjections.