I am pleased to welcome members of Lung Cancer Canada here today, part of the Right2Survive coalition. They are Winky Yau as well as Julia Kulczyski.

I’m also pleased to welcome the Nurse Practitioners’ Association of Ontario and my good friend Jennifer Clement and, of course, the Sudbury Police Association that is here: Jacques Roberge, Steve Train, Mauro Gianfrancesco and Matt Hall. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Welcome to your House.

I’d like to welcome Ellie Bale, president of the Halton Regional Police Association. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

With sincere regrets, I missed two from the Windsor Police Service who are here: Kate Mitchell and Dave Kellam. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Good morning, Speaker. My question is for the Premier. The Premier has been caught repeatedly using his personal phone to conduct government business, contrary to guidelines. This appears to be a way to avoid freedom-of-information disclosures.

It seems that this culture of non-compliance has evidently spread to other ministers. Global News found the ministers for education, finance, health, housing and transportation either never or rarely made calls on their government-issued phones during crucial moments when key and very controversial government decisions were being made.

So, Speaker, to the Premier: Is it standard practice for ministers to avoid accountability in this way?

Speaker, back to the Premier: Did the Minister of Health discuss these changes in advance with Christine Elliott, her predecessor as health minister and now a lobbyist for Clearpoint?

Thank you, Madam Speaker—or Mr. Speaker.

Interjection: It’s early.

Look, Mr. Speaker, the ministers and the Premier, of course, follow all the rules as set out by the Integrity Commissioner and the information commissioner. But at the same time, the ministers and the caucus members of this government have been very, very accountable to the people of the province of Ontario, and that is why we won a massive majority from the people in the last election. That is why the ranks of the Progressive Conservative caucus have grown.

Primarily, it is because we have been focused on what matters to the people of the province of Ontario: building more homes, improving the economy—groundbreaking legislation that had seen us bring over $27 billion worth of investments to the province of Ontario. At a time when the rest of the world was being challenged, Ontario was thriving. That is a level of accountability I will take each and every day, and it is why the people of the province of Ontario have supported us in larger numbers, election after election.

I’ll tell you what the Minister of Health is doing. Like every other minister of the government, we’re not contemplating how many times did I turn my phone on each and every day. There are other ways of communicating. You know, my iPad—actually I can text-message on my iPad.

Interjections.

Good morning. We have several individuals from the police association: Adam Kitson, Colin Campbell, Derek Watson—there are a couple of others that I missed. I apologize.

I also would like to introduce Willie Noiles from my St. Catharines riding association, representing injured workers from Niagara. Welcome to your House.

The former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing made only about 20 minutes of calls using his government-issued phone last November. Now, think back, Speaker: This was the month the minister announced changes to the greenbelt, as well as the forced expansions of the urban boundaries of Hamilton, York, Peel, Ottawa and other municipalities. There is evidence the government gave preferential treatment to the favoured speculators who benefitted from these changes.

To the Premier: Did the minister stay off his government-issued phone to avoid leaving a record of who he was talking to?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. Has the Premier, or anyone in his staff, been in contact with the RCMP regarding the investigation into the greenbelt grab?

Earlier this month, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing confirmed that the RCMP has been in touch with his ministry. They are already sniffing around the cabinet and other members of government caucus who have deep connections to these land speculators. This scandal has already cost the government two cabinet ministers and multiple staff members, not to mention a full year wasted on speculator-friendly policies that had to be reversed because they did not meet the needs of Ontarians.

My question is for the Premier: How many current or former cabinet ministers or political staff have been contacted by the RCMP?

Interjections.

Speaker, to the Premier, what is it going to take for you and your government to come clean with the people of Ontario? My gosh.

Interjections.

Here’s a massive innovation that has never obviously occurred to the NDP: It’s called looking at somebody across the table and saying, “What is the advice that you have for me?” It’s about bringing people in and talking to them, right?

Now, I know they don’t like to do that over there. They don’t want to do that over there because when they talk to each other, they divide. So the less they talk, the better it is for the NDP. But in this caucus, Progressive Conservatives enjoy each other. We enjoy the public, and that is why the public has put their confidence in us. That’s why businesses are coming back and investment has increased.

I know the Minister of Finance and the parliamentary assistants are criss-crossing the province, doing—do you know what? Not talking to people on the phone; they’re meeting face to face, getting ideas on what we should have in the next budget. That is what this caucus is doing. We do it all the time.

My gosh, I know the Minister of Agriculture and a number of caucus members were at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair. You know what they were doing? Talking to people about the great things that are coming. We’re in a chamber that does what? Talks to each other, Mr. Speaker.

I would suggest to the Leader of the Opposition—I know that their party is based on the principles of 1933, but the modern age has many other ways of communicating, not just the old technology that is a phone.

But, make no mistake, Mr. Speaker: We will not be sidetracked from what our mission is, and the mission is to build 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario.

Our mission is to get people out of their parents’ basements and into their first home. Our mission is to ensure that people who graduate from college or university, who are going into the trades or having their first job, can enjoy the same dreams that almost every single one of us in this chamber had: the value and the dream of a home of their own.

That is what we are focused on. We will not be sidetracked on that mission, despite the fact that the NDP and the Liberals worked so hard for 15 years, put obstacles in the way that the largest land mass in the country has a housing crisis. We’ll disentangle that, we’ll get the homes built, we’ll get people out of their parents’ basements and into the homes that they deserve.

Now, listen, the NDP have a candidate in their current by-election. Do you know what she’s known as? She’s known as the queen of NIMBY. Do you know why? Because she’s turned down a 1,174-unit development downtown; another 10-storey, 132 units in downtown; 532 residential units, which also was in downtown, which contained thousands of extra dollars for affordable housing. Do you know why she turned that down, the NDP candidate? Because it was too close to a pickleball court.

Now, I think I’m too young to play pickleball, Mr. Speaker, but I’ll tell you what, this is a culture of the NDP: Turn down everything and then find an excuse. Blame it on the pickleballers. That’s—

The only party that is having trouble in this place, outside of the van party, is the opposition leader’s party. They can’t even caucus together, because every time they caucus together, they fight. I mean, this is a Leader of the Opposition who ran unopposed for the leadership of the party. Do you know why? Because nobody wanted to lead the party.

Interjections.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Yesterday, CBC reported that privately owned Don Mills Surgical Unit was paid rates “noticeably higher than what the province provides public hospitals for the” exact “same procedures.” This government paid $1,200 for cataract surgeries at the for-profit clinic versus giving $500 for the same surgery in a public hospital. Even worse, the Ford government paid $4,000 for a meniscectomy in a for-profit clinic versus $1,200 in our public hospitals.

Can the Premier explain why he is willing to pay private clinics 240% to 333% more than what he pays to our public hospitals for the exact same procedure?

Well, Speaker, unlike public hospitals, which provide care based on our needs, the number one goal of a private clinic is to make money. These clinics only accept clients that are easy; they send the riskier, the more complex, the more expensive patients back to the public hospitals, yet our public hospitals have better outcomes.

This government is making sure that Centric Health Corp. makes a lot of money off the backs of sick people at the expense of taxpayers. Centric Health Corp. is a division of Kensington Capital Partners, whose stated goal is “to create top-performing investment solutions for our investors.” Does that speak of quality care?

Can the Premier explain why he is paying two to three times the price to a private, for-profit clinic whose goal is to provide “top-performing investment solutions” to their investors?

Interjections.

Good morning, Speaker. My question is back to the Premier.

Last week, the Toronto Region Board of Trade’s report warned that this government’s changes to planning rules are putting 1.5 million jobs at risk. The Trillium reported that major Conservative Party donors successfully lobbied the former minister to punch a hole in Peel region’s employment zone plans, undermining the integrity of this crucial employment area against the recommendation of civil servants.

When will the Premier stop putting jobs at risk and stop giving preferential treatment to his speculator friends?

Interjections.

I don’t know what’s going on here today, Mr. Speaker, because the member in her question highlights the exact reason why I’m bringing bills to the House to actually untangle the mess that was left behind by the NDP and the Liberals.

Look, just the other day, we opened up the largest long-term-care home, I think, in Ontario. That was Wellbrook Place. I have to thank Tess Romain. She’s doing a great job there. They’re the largest long-term-care home in the province there—over 600 beds. Now, that was getting done because under the Liberals and the NDP—you’ll remember, colleagues—there were fewer homes built across the entire province in the 15 years that they governed together, than that one home has in that one community.

I have said that I will remove the obstacles that municipalities are putting in the way of building long-term care. I thank you for your support of that. I will bring a bill forward to this House to make sure that long-term-care homes get built—

My question is to the Premier. Last month, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing was asked about ministerial zoning orders. He said, “What I’m concerned with are those MZOs that have led to no action being taken. The MZOs that I’m pleased with, of course, are the ones that the Minister of Long-Term Care has asked for....”

Well, it turns out that the Toronto Star looked at several MZOs issued for long-term-care homes and found that, in most cases, there was no action being taken with them either. This includes MZOs issued for long-term-care homes on government-owned land.

My question is this: Why is this minister so pleased that his MZOs are not getting long-term-care homes built?

My question is for the Minister of Energy. Over the past few weeks, I have heard from many of my constituents who are deeply unhappy and very concerned about the impact of the carbon tax on their day-to-day lives.

When the federal government forced the carbon tax on Ontario, hard-working families were slapped with a 14.3-cent-per-litre increase on the price of gas, costing them hundreds of dollars a year. As if that wasn’t already expensive enough, the federal carbon tax is costing families more in grocery bills every month. The costs are passed on to the consumer when transportation, refrigeration and electricity prices increase because of the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the federal carbon tax negatively impacts the people of Ontario and what our government is doing to provide support?

The collective support by Premiers in calling on the federal government to remove the carbon tax on heating pumps and for fairness for all Canadians confirms that this issue is creating significant burdens everywhere across this great country. That is why it is so astonishing that the Liberal and NDP members in this Legislature continue to work against any efforts to make life more affordable for Ontarians.

Speaker, can the minister please explain more about the negative impact that the carbon tax has on so many Ontarians?

As announced last January, our government’s expansion to further leverage community surgical and diagnostic centres was and has always been about finding capacity where there is capacity within our publicly funded health care system. Our government is taking action to deliver more publicly funded procedures to reduce wait times for people and to reduce the surgical backlog.

Since 2020, our government has also invested nearly $1 billion through the surgical recovery fund to open hospital operating rooms on weeknights and weekends. But we knew more could be done. That is why we initiated four new cataract surgery clinics, and I’m very pleased to say they added 14,000 extra cataract surgeries this year, which means 14,000 grandmothers and grandfathers are able to get back to work, read to their grandchildren and do other things that make life worthwhile.

All of this goes to make a different apples-and-oranges comparison, but what we can tell you is more people are getting access to care faster, paid for with their OHIP card, and that’s what people care about.

Parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, the member for Eglinton–Lawrence.

To reply, once again, the member for Eglington–Lawrence.

The supplementary question? The member for London North Centre.

Thanks to the member opposite for the question, Mr. Speaker.

Since we took government, we’ve been doing everything we can to try and make life more affordable for the people of Ontario as the federal government continues to jack up the carbon tax year over year over year. We brought in a number of initiatives, including removing 10 cents a litre off the price of gasoline; bringing in the Ontario Electricity Rebate, lowering electricity bills by 15%; taking the tolls off highways; sending people back a rebate on their licence plate sticker fees and eliminating those fees—and so much more: the CARE, the LIFT and the staycation tax credits, just to name a few.

We’ve been trying our best to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario. The federal Liberals continue to drive up the carbon tax. These Ontario Liberals haven’t learned a darn thing. Liberals driving people into energy poverty at the federal level and the provincial level—not only are they happy with the current carbon tax; they want to see it triple by 2030.

We’re surrounded by police officers here this morning, I can only imagine the impact that the carbon tax is having on our police services and our municipalities when they go to fill up their police cruisers to make sure our communities are safe.

We’ve heard from the agriculture minister the impact it’s having on the price of food because of increased costs on farmers.

But these Liberals in Ontario are rock solid in their support of the federal carbon tax. It’s making it more expensive for the people of Ontario every single day.

Yet another example of how the carbon tax is hurting Ontarians—and there’s a better way. Of course, there are industries that can’t help but produce CO₂ in what they do to make our lives better every day.

You can have a carbon tax that’s punitive against everyday individuals, or maybe you can go about it in a different way, like this government has gone about it; like this Premier, like this Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade—by supporting electric arc furnaces in Hamilton and Sault Ste. Marie, taking the equivalent of two million cars off the road. That’s an incredible number. And you can go about it a different way, in opening up the opportunities for carbon capture and storage in Ontario, like we’re doing through my ministry, to make sure that that CO₂ never hits the air and is safely stored for eternity—or provide options around green hydrogen. There are other ways. It’s called supporting business, not being punitive to the families in Ontario with a carbon tax that achieves absolutely nothing.

But here we are—again, a government that’s taking steps to make Ontario greener and cleaner. The Minister of Energy is expanding our nuclear fleet. The Minister of Mines is working on building that road to the Ring of Fire, which will extract those precious metals to support the EV battery capital of the world here in Ontario, thanks to the great work of our Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and the support that this government has shown for what the future of automobiles will be.

There’s so much opportunity to support businesses in Ontario. Through my ministry, our forest biomass program, a $20-million program, is looking towards innovation, looking towards a green economy: use of wood products in medicine, bioplastics, 3D printing green economy, biodiesel, even jet fuel—fewer emissions, more jobs. Fewer emissions, more jobs, Mr. Speaker: It’s that easy. That’s what innovation looks like.

This carbon tax is punitive. All it does is beat up the wallet. Well, we’re not going to support it. We’re going to support businesses here in Ontario.

Thank you for that question. We all know in this House that children and youth need accessible and reliable services if they’re to grow into healthy adults. That’s why, since 2019, $130 million has gone into children and youth mental health services via the Roadmap to Wellness. This includes, in addition, through the road map, another $170 million over the next three years; in education, $90 million for school-based supports; and $20 million for an across-the-board 5% funding increase.

In addition, we’re extremely proud of our youth wellness hubs and the investments that we’ve made that are providing mental health and addiction, primary care and early interventions, all on a walk-in basis and the warm hand-offs that result to community providers from them.

Mr. Speaker, children and youth are our future, and our government is making and will continue to invest in them.

Les enfants et les jeunes sont notre avenir, et notre gouvernement continuera d’investir en eux.

In 2022, we invested another $31 million in new annual funding to reduce wait-lists that support the mental health and well-being of children and youth. We’re innovating on new ways to treat children and youth and new means for them to have access: $3.5 million in Step Up Step Down live-in treatment programs; $2.1 million in virtual walk-in counselling, connecting youth to a clinician by phone, text or video chat; a $1-million child and youth tele-mental-health service; a $4.5-million One Stop Talk virtual walk-in.

These initiatives are working, and they’re making a difference. We’re increasing access to supports. We’re addressing the increased demand subsequent to the COVID pandemic. We’re decreasing wait times, and we’re improving the quality of care—

Interjection.