Speaker, empty words that don’t actually keep trans communities safe. Hate crimes are on the rise in Ontario and in Toronto; we have seen this tripled in the 2SLGBT community. In fact, according to Toronto police, queer and trans people are the ones most frequently victimized by physical assault.

In April, I introduced an NDP bill to address this violence by creating the first-ever Ontario-wide strategy to address 2SLGBTQI safety. Every day that goes by without a provincial plan to stop transphobic violence, the community grows more afraid and is losing hope.

Can the Premier—can anyone in government—assure trans and queer families like mine that they will keep us safe? How will he commit to working with us to pass this legislation as soon as possible?

I would like to thank the member for that important question.

Mr. Speaker, there is no question that Ontario is home to a strong and vibrant 2SLGBTQIA+ community that calls Ontario home. We recognize the unique challenges and barriers faced by many within the community. That is why we are making critical investments to build safer and more secure communities in all aspects. This includes over $60 million in anti-hate initiatives just from my ministry alone, including a $25.5-million investment in the Anti-Hate Security and Prevention Grant.

Mr. Speaker, as we observe the Transgender Day of Remembrance, we remember the historical and ongoing challenges faced by the community and commit to building a stronger, more inclusive province where all Ontarians can safely and freely express their identity, practise their faith and observe their traditions.

Lastly, I want to say, in light of today being Transgender Day of Remembrance, to anyone who has experienced discrimination or harassment or is struggling; Please know that you are valued and that you are not alone. We are here for you, and our government will continue building a stronger and more inclusive Ontario where all people feel safe and accepted.

That’s a very, very interesting question coming from a Liberal member from Scarborough. The member will, of course, remember that the previous Liberal government absolutely did nothing when it came to supporting transit and transportation in Scarborough.

Not only are we building a subway in Scarborough, the Ontario Line, but we’re also doing more on GO services, not only into that area but across the GTA. In my own riding, two-way, all-day GO trains, something we could have only dreamed of before, are now a reality in many parts of the province.

We’re putting historic levels of funding to support our transit and transportation, including our public transportation system. There is no government that has put more money into public transportation than this government and we continue on that because we understand how important it is to building a bigger, better, stronger province of Ontario. We’ll continue to do the work that the Liberals refused to do when they had that opportunity.

The member is right on one thing: It is time to make investments. But you know when it was time to start making investments? Ten, 12 years ago, when the people of Scarborough, when the people of Toronto were desperate for more subways and the Liberals did absolutely nothing. Now, as in every single thing that this government has to do, it is about catching up, because after 15 years of disastrous Liberal and NDP-supported rule we are faced with crises, whether it’s in transit and transportation or our health care system, so we’ve had to build hospitals, renew our hospitals and build long-term care, build more roads and improve our transit system. We’re building subways.

And do you know why we have to do all of that? Because under 15 years of Liberals, they did absolutely nothing. They spent, but we have no idea what they spent on. They have nothing to show for it other than high taxes, high regulations and being one of the most indebted sub-sovereign governments in the world. We’re getting it done and we’ll continue to get it done for all of the people of Toronto and Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Transportation.

This government loves to talk about investing in transit, but under their watch, transit agencies are more underfunded than ever. What good is a new subway line if the other subway lines and bus routes are getting cut because the TTC is starved for funding and this government wouldn’t pay up? Our economy relies on public transit getting our workers to work on time. Transit agencies are cutting routes while increasing fares. Reduced service is a major obstacle to bringing people back on the TTC, where we are only at 78% of pre-pandemic usage. The TTC does not have the money to restore service, and we need the province to step up. The provincial subsidy for transit agencies is not tied to inflation.

Will the minister commit to funding the transit service that Ontarians rely on, or will they continue treating bus riders as an afterthought?

Having witnessed one LRT line derail because of poor maintenance, I would hope that this government would see it as a warning that they need to invest in the system. Instead, the TTC has to cancel buying new trains for Line 2 because of their provincially supported funding crisis. The trains on Line 2 are not built to last past 2026, and thousands of commuters and I are worried that a serious accident might occur once again. We need to buy new trains, and this government needs to step up because the TTC cannot afford it alone.

Will the minister commit to helping Toronto replace the trains, or is he content to watch another subway derail under his government’s watch?

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development.

We’ve heard in this House and we’ve certainly heard from our constituents that the carbon tax is making everything more expensive for all Ontarians. The people of northern Ontario and the northern Indigenous communities are even more impacted by the high cost of goods and travel because of this regressive tax. That’s why it’s so shocking to hear the Liberal and NDP opposition members continuing to defend the tax. The reality is that the cost of transporting goods is already much higher in northern Ontario, and these costs are being passed on to the consumers.

Will the minister please elaborate on his views regarding the carbon tax’s negative impact on northern Ontario and northern Indigenous communities?

Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

I haven’t seen the study that you referred to—I’ll look at it—but I don’t understand how completing 14,000 extra cataract surgeries in the last year will not reduce wait times. It seems to me that that reduced wait times for, actually, 14,000 people who had those cataract surgeries, who can now read to their grandchildren, who can now drive to the store, who can now get about their daily lives. And thank goodness we did that, because people need to get back to their lives.

That is what this government is doing—making sure we have the right care, in the right place, at the right time, paid for with your OHIP card.

This question is to the Premier.

Yesterday was the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. I was honoured to attend the Toronto ceremony led by Jessica Spieker, who joins us in the members’ gallery today, from Friends and Families for Safe Streets, who walked us through an Etobicoke neighbourhood, documenting hundreds of collisions that have caused serious injury or death to pedestrians and cyclists by reckless drivers. We can and we must act for change.

After question period, we can vote for Bill 40, the Moving Ontarians Safely Act. This legislation has been debated in this House for 10 years by different caucuses. It is not a partisan issue. Can the Premier confirm to the House today that the government will be supporting Bill 40 at second reading?

My question is for the Minister of Transportation.

So far, the federal Liberal government has increased the carbon tax on gasoline five times, and they plan on doing it seven more times over the next seven years. The carbon tax is making life more expensive for everybody, especially the trucking industry, who we rely on to transport our goods.

That’s why it was shocking to hear last week when the member from Kanata–Carleton actually stood up and defended the carbon tax. That Liberal member might think the carbon tax is a good thing, but our government knows that it’s a regressive tax and it only makes life more expensive for millions of people in Ontario.

Can the minister please explain the impact of the federal Liberal carbon tax on the trucking industry?

The people of Ontario are certainly indebted to the hard-working men and women in the trucking industry who deliver the essential goods that we count on every day.

But, Speaker, the reality is that the impact of the carbon tax is having a bad impact on the trucking industry, and it ultimately affects every consumer. The cost to fuel the trucks to transport goods is passed on to the consumer who purchases those goods. This is a critical issue, and it impacts all Ontarians, including those who live in Kanata–Carleton, where over 1,500 people are employed in the trucking and warehousing industry. Unfortunately, the member for that riding is ignoring their concerns about the negative impact of this carbon tax.

Speaker, can the parliamentary assistant please elaborate on how the carbon tax impacts the trucking industry and all Ontarians?

There’s a lot to unpack in that question from the member opposite.

He wants to talk about long-term care. Well, let’s talk about the legacy of what the last government, supported by the NDP, had done to the last system—failing to build long-term care. They knew we had an aging population. We had a lot of immigrants coming to this province, with seniors. That puts additional pressures on a system that they created—in 15 years building a net new 611 beds; a system in which they let the wait-list grow to 40,000 people; a system in which the average wait time for seniors was 152 days.

It is under the leadership of this Premier and this former long-term care minister, who said that we’re not going to go down that road—the road that they created, where you don’t support our seniors—because we think we need to take care of our seniors. That’s why we’re building—$10 billion, a record investment into building 58,000 new and redeveloped homes. That’s why we are taking care of our seniors with better diagnostic tools, better outcomes, focusing on their health and well-being.

Speaker, we won’t take lessons from this NDP—

My question is to the Premier.

Last week, we learned the Conservative government is paying private, for-profit clinics two to four times more than they pay public hospitals for OHIP-covered surgeries.

Also, the former Minister of Health is now lobbying for Clearpoint Health, the biggest chain of private surgical clinics in the country. This comes as a recent report noted that expanding private surgery will not reduce wait times; in fact, it will increase wait times for patients, while worsening our staffing crisis in the province of Ontario.

Why is the Premier choosing to put profits for private clinics before care for patients in the province of Ontario?

Back to the Premier: This isn’t the first time a Conservative government in Ontario privatized public care; the Mike Harris Conservatives did it with long-term care. They closed 26 hospitals and laid off 6,000 nurses.

Six thousand people died in long-term care during the pandemic—78% were in private, for-profit clinics. The military was called in for some of those homes. Some residents were dying of dehydration. The Premier then gifted those homes with legal protection so families couldn’t sue them for neglect, and he gave some homes multi-decades-long licence renewals. It’s absolutely shameful.

Why won’t the Premier acknowledge the mistakes of the previous Conservative government, repeal Bill 60, and invest in our publicly funded, publicly delivered, not-for-profit health care instead of the profits of private shareholders and CEOs?

To respond, the member for Eglinton–Lawrence and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health.

Thank you to the minister for those examples of this outrageousness. The carbon tax is, in essence, a tax on everything: your groceries, your gas, your home heating fuel, and so much more. It’s outrageous that the federal government is imposing this regressive tax that negatively impacts individuals and families, especially those in northern communities.

Instead of supporting northern Ontario, the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, spent more time insulting the region, calling it a “no man’s land.” Unlike other parts of our province, the north faces unique barriers regarding fuel costs that need to be understood and respected. Individuals downplaying the carbon tax’s impact on northern Ontario is ultimately disrespectful to all of its residents.

Will the minister please elaborate on the detrimental impacts of the carbon tax on the people, the communities and the businesses across the north?

All day long—take the member from Orléans, who talks about how if everyone just got a heat pump and used electricity to power their homes, why, they’d be better off. Is the member from Orléans not aware that dozens of remote and isolated communities rely on diesel fuel, and that heat pumps in places like Kenora don’t actually work when temperatures move beyond minus 20—something that’s going to be happening very quickly?

We’re hard at work to make sure that our northern, remote and isolated communities have affordable, clean energy, but it turns out that old saint Justin gave us a lump of coal during this holiday season. It was only the folks from Atlantic Canada who got relief from that carbon tax.

We moved off coal under the leadership of Premier Harris and other successive governments.

We don’t need coal. We need to scrap the carbon tax.

Thank you to the member for that great question.

Speaker, our government has done tremendous work to make sure that our roads stay safe. That’s why we have some of the safest roads in North America. When we take a look at legislation introduced by our government, we take a look at the MOMS Act and all of the wonderful things that came with that particular act. That was taking real action on ensuring that our roads continue to stay safe.

Like I said to the member opposite in debate earlier, our door is always open to take good ideas, but the proposed idea that’s been given to the ministry, labelling vulnerable road users, that is left up to the courts so they can make the right decision based on each individual case. Each accident is different, and the courts should have the power to make that determination, not a blanket legislation that’s going to take over and then label all of them into one particular category.

We’ll be introducing more legislation in the coming months, but our government is committed to ensuring that we have the safest roads in North America, and we’re open to taking all ideas because it’s a non-partisan issue.

Thank you to the great member from Thornhill for the question and for advocating so passionately for job creators in her riding.

I’ve had the privilege of hearing directly from entrepreneurs across the province, and maybe the member from Kanata–Carleton should do the same in her riding. Time and time again, they express real concern about the burden of rising costs from the federal carbon tax, combined with upcoming deadlines like CEBA loan repayments. The carbon tax inflates expenses at every step of the supply chain. Whether they’re farmers producing food, manufacturers leveraging our skilled workforce or shops anchoring our main streets, Ontario’s job creators all agree this punitive tax hits hardest just as they’re getting back on their feet.

Many business owners have shared fears that it could make them reduce staff, raise prices or even shut their doors for good. Unlike the Liberals and NDP, our government is listening to entrepreneurs. We’re taking action on affordability. We would like them to join us in calling on Ottawa to scrap the carbon tax.

I am proud to be part of a government under Premier Ford’s strong leadership, who has from the start spoken out against this job-killing tax. I’m glad to see Premiers, right across all political stripes, join us in calling on the federal government to expand exemptions for the carbon tax and to lessen the burden on consumers and job creators.

Every day I meet inspirational entrepreneurs who are pouring their hearts and souls into building something from nothing, providing jobs and hope. That’s why we’ve been there with our million-dollar investment in Futurpreneur Canada, which helps young entrepreneurs access financing, mentorship and resources to turn their bold ideas into thriving businesses—or Digital Main Street, which helps existing businesses create and enhance their online presence and generate jobs.

We’ve stepped up to the plate for small businesses. It’s time—

My question is to the Associate Minister of Small Business.

Small businesses contribute significantly to Ontario’s economy; however, the carbon tax is making it more difficult for many small businesses to survive. That’s why it was so shocking to hear last Thursday that the member from Kanata–Carleton rose in this House to defend the federal carbon tax. The member claimed that the vast majority—the vast majority—of households in Ontario are better off with a price on carbon.

Speaker, the reality is that no one is better off because of the carbon tax. With over 6,000 retail trade employees working in Kanata–Carleton alone, many of these businesses and their workers feel this regressive carbon tax is negatively impacting them.

Can the associate minister please explain how the carbon tax impacts small businesses across Ontario?

Our government must continue to respect the importance of small businesses. We know that the carbon tax is harmful to their success. Cutting the carbon tax has been one of our top priorities, since day one, in order for our small businesses to grow and thrive.

As our government works to make life more affordable for Ontarians, it’s concerning that the member from Kanata–Carleton is not supporting the small businesses in her riding.

Can the associate minister please elaborate on how our government continues to support small businesses in Ontario by fighting the federal carbon tax?

To the Premier: This is a critical time of the year when Ontario’s conservation officers are hard at work to deter unsafe hunting practices and protect wildlife. Conservation officers also investigate gruesome injuries and deaths that result from tragic hunting-related accidents, and they are responsible for laying charges in cases of careless hunting. They are working in some of Ontario’s most isolated locations, with limited access to support and assistance from other enforcement agencies. But conservation officers are not classified properly or compensated fairly for the work they do, causing low morale and a retention crisis.

My question: When will this government acknowledge the duties that conservation officers undertake and commit to reclassify them accordingly?

I will say, Speaker—through you to the Premier and to the House leader—that’s a pretty disappointing answer. After 10 years of advocacy in this place, after members from every single political party in this House championing the exact words before this House in Bill 40—that is a very disappointing answer. It’s a disappointing answer to the 3,066 pedestrians who were struck by reckless drivers in 2022—these are the government’s own numbers—the 1,412 cyclists who were struck by reckless drivers. Speaker, 466 of those pedestrians were either critically injured or died. One hundred and thirty five of those cyclists were either critically injured or died.

Is there—I ask the government through you, Speaker—an acceptable amount of road violence in our streets? The government has taken action around stunt driving. They talk about safety a lot. But now is the moment to justify to this House, with real words, why you are deciding to vote against Bill 40. Tell your government; tell yourselves. This is the moment to stand for safety and vote for Bill 40. Please change your answer.

To respond, the government House leader.

To reply, the member for Brampton East.