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.

It gives me great pleasure to welcome to your House Willy Noiles. He’s from the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups, and he’s here today representing the Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada. I personally want to thank you for all your hard work, Willy, that you do on our riding association.

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’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.

Again, both the Integrity Commissioner and the Auditor General have confirmed the same, so I would suggest to the members opposite that if they don’t have faith in either of those two officers of Parliament, they should table a motion in front of this House saying that they don’t have confidence in either of those two—

Interjection.

That is just the start. We are seeing purpose-built rentals at record levels in this province—record levels. For the past 30 years, they have never hit the targets that they are hitting today. And that’s what we continue to do: double down on policies that bring housing to the people of the province of Ontario. They’re against it; we’ll remove the obstacles and remove the taxes—

When the Minister of Finance brings in a bill to reduce, to eliminate taxes on purpose-built rentals, they will vote against it. When the Minister of Infrastructure brings a bill forward to build transit faster, they vote against it. When we bring a bill that would build homes around transit—transit-oriented communities—they vote against it. When we bring a bill forward to eliminate the lowest-income earners from tax rolls, they vote against it. When the minister brought in a bill to increase ODSP rates and to put it towards inflation, to mark it towards inflation, they vote against it.

They vote literally against everything. They stand for literally nothing, and that is why that party is so divided and spending more time fighting each other—

Interjections.

But what we’re doubling down on is this: building more homes for the people of the province of Ontario, eliminating red tape so that we can get more shovels in the ground, eliminating taxes so that we can have more purpose-built rentals—ensuring that the people of the province of Ontario can share in the exact same dream that millions of people who came to this country have always had: the dream of home ownership.

Mr. Speaker, we know that the party opposite—they’re against immigration; they’re against building homes; they’re against working people.

The member for Sudbury can’t get the smile off his face, because he voted against the miners in his own community time and time again.

If it was up to them, our economy would sink, there would be no homes built, and the people would only rely on government.

We want the—

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. The carbon tax is driving up the cost of utilities, as it is driving up the cost of everything. People across our province are struggling, and life is more unaffordable today because of the imposition of the federal carbon tax. Sadly, many individuals and families are worried about how to pay for home heating and are forced to make decisions.

Businesses and organizations are also feeling the same pressure from the carbon tax. They worry about their financial future and the ability to continue to provide goods and services to the people in their communities.

Can the minister please explain the financial impact the carbon tax increases are having on the people of Ontario?

However, the negative impact of the carbon tax cannot be overstated. I receive emails and calls from constituents sharing how the price of gas and food has dramatically increased, creating daily hardships. Drivers are forced to pay more at the pumps because of the carbon tax.

While our government has showed much-needed leadership and reduced the gasoline tax, sadly, the federal government has not. Instead, they increased fuel and gasoline costs by 14 cents, forcing individuals, families and businesses to pay more, all because of the carbon tax.

Can the minister please explain what action needs to be taken to respond to the negative impact that the federal carbon tax is having on the people of Ontario?

Speaker, as reported by the Trillium today, last year the former Minister of Municipal Affairs approved amendments to Peel’s official plan that would allow the development of a golf course located inside the greenbelt fingers in Caledon. The beneficiaries of this change include Michael Rice and members of the De Gasperis family. The Auditor General found that the ministry gave Mr. Rice and the De Gasperis family preferential treatment when their lands were removed from the greenbelt last year.

Speaker, my question is, did they also receive preferential treatment when the former minister approved these changes to Peel’s official plan?

It’s Groundhog Day.

I think the one thing we can agree on is that there’s an affordability crisis across Canada right now, and it’s because of the carbon tax.

What did the federal Liberal government do last week? They carved out their staple policy, the carbon tax—but only in Atlantic Canada—off home heating oil, which affects 2.5% of Ontario residents; over 70% are using natural gas. The carbon tax is adding $300 on a natural gas bill; it’s adding $250 on propane users’ bills across the province.

We’ve been doing everything we can, on this side of the House, to make sure that life is more affordable, just yesterday, the Minister of Finance and the Premier announcing that we are extending the gasoline rebate to 10 cents a litre until mid-next year.

While we’re doing that, the feds are continuing to drive up the cost of gasoline by 14 cents a litre this year with the carbon tax, and plan to triple it over the next number of years.

We’re working closely with the federal government. Let us help you get this right. Reduce the carbon tax.

It’s obviously impacting the price of everything that we buy, from gasoline at the pumps to our home heating fuels to the groceries in our grocery stores. It’s costing more because of the federal carbon tax. And as we heard earlier this week from the governor of the Bank of Canada, it’s also having a massive impact on inflation.

Work with us. Help us help you, and reduce the carbon tax on everything, everywhere—

Interjections.