Yesterday, I made a mistake by not acknowledging Melissa Hudson and Nicki Ward, who were both here for the Trans Day of Remembrance. I wanted to make sure that members of the House knew that their presence was here.

It really shouldn’t be so difficult. It’s not just the dates that—

Interjections.

In fact, the Integrity Commissioner has been looking into this. They’ve been “looking into Atlas Strategic Advisors for allegations of illegal lobbying since June.”

So back to the Premier: Why was a close friend of the Premier awarded a contract to write speeches at the same time that they were actively lobbying this government?

Interjections.

Speaker, it is abundantly clear the Ontario government is running the show at Ontario Place, so an environmental assessment should have been done. So will the Premier order a full environmental assessment of the Ontario Place project?

Will the Premier stop the environmental destruction of Ontario Place and order a full environmental assessment?

Interjections.

Interjections.

To the Premier: Do we have to wait for another Auditor General report or the RCMP to get the details?

Interjections.

No.

But colleagues, that has happened once before in the history of the province. You know when that was? In the last Parliament.

Interjections.

Interjections.

We’ve conducted two environmental assessments, one on the site-servicing work that is necessary in order to make sure that we can have tenants on the site. Good news: We actually completed our category C environmental assessment on Friday. It will be made public. It is shared with the public. But what’s most important is we are bringing Ontario Place back to life.

No one goes to Ontario Place anymore. The site is deteriorating, the site is flooding. In fact, Live Nation had to cancel its concerts back in 2017 because of the flooding issues. We will make sure that we improve the shoreline. We will make sure that there will be lots of activities for families to do at Ontario Place. If it was up to the NDP, they would do nothing. They would let the site deteriorate and let the site continue to flood, but we will not let that happen.

And Mr. Speaker, we had a competitive procurement process where Therme wellness facility participated and was successful, and now they will be an active tenant on the site that will contribute to the annual maintenance of the site to make sure that it does not fall into disrepair like it has done under their watch. They closed Ontario Place. We are going to bring it back to life with wonderful activities to make sure that we bring the site to good standard so that families can enjoy it for years and years to come.

If my memory serves me correct, the city of Toronto just passed a motion asking for the wellness centre to be moved at Exhibition Place, but do you know what one of their arguments was for that? “Oh, because there’s parking.” Parking is a necessity when it comes to tourist attractions. Wonderland, the zoo—every tourist attraction has parking. We want to make it as accessible for people so that the mom from Scarborough with three kids can make it down to Ontario Place to enjoy.

The government House leader.

The member for Brampton North will come to order, the member from Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke will come to order. The member for Kitchener–Conestoga will come to order. We’re just getting started.

Start the clock. The next question.

The Minister of Infrastructure.

Minister of Infrastructure.

To the Premier: Walter Kehm, a prominent landscape architect who designed Trillium and Tommy Thompson Parks, has withdrawn his support from the Ontario Place redevelopment project. Mr. Kehm is speaking out against the Premier’s environmental vandalism at Ontario Place, including the clear-cutting of 800 mature trees and the habitats that they support in order to make way for a government-subsidized private luxury spa.

The Auditor General has already announced an investigation of the Ontario Place scheme, and now Mr. Kehm says the public needs to know the truth about the harm this project will cause. Will the Premier halt his environmental vandalism at Ontario Place?

To add to my previous comments, we will be adding a 6-to-1 ratio on trees for larger trees and a 2-to-1 ratio for smaller trees. In fact, there will be far more vegetation on Ontario Place, once fully redeveloped, than today.

But, Mr. Speaker, let’s ask what their plan is. Do you know what the plan of the NDP is? Do nothing. Don’t build subways, don’t build highways, don’t build schools, don’t build long-term care and don’t bring Ontario Place back to life. No wonder no one supports your party.

The minister should actually thank the workers in Windsor and the union that helped negotiate that deal over years.

Back to the Premier, this Conservative government had two different opportunities to get this deal right, and they still missed the mark. Windsor workers have been left behind because it didn’t even occur to the Conservatives to tie the investment commitments to our local workforce. As many as 1,600 workers from outside the country are reportedly on their way to work on the plant. Windsor is excited to be the home of the future battery plant. The people of Windsor have the skills and experience to do the work.

Speaker, why did the Premier fail to ensure that Windsor workers would be at the forefront of these good-paying union jobs and fail to have the proper protections in writing for the NextStar battery-plant deal?

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. The Bank of Canada has confirmed what the Premier and our government have been saying for years: The carbon tax is raising the price of everything. After years of pushing energy costs higher, the Prime Minister has finally announced that the federal government is pausing the carbon tax, but only on home heating oil and only for three years.

Speaker, this is a serious issue for many Ontarians as costs continue to soar. I’ve heard from many of my constituents over the weekend who heat with natural gas or propane who are concerned that the federal Liberals are leaving them out in the cold this winter. Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is negatively impacting the people of Ontario?

It seems that there is now broad recognition that the carbon tax costs families much more than what they will ever get back. However, this recognition does little to help people who are struggling to pay high heating costs. In fact, the Parliamentary Budget Officer confirmed that by 2030 the carbon tax will cost families over $2,000 per year even with climate rebates. That’s why, Speaker, it was so surprising to hear a member of the Liberal caucus rise in this House to repeat the claim that families are better off because the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate on the effects of the carbon tax on individuals and families across the province.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. We’ve seen a record number of investments come into our province since we took office because we have kept costs low for businesses. In the auto sector, we have attracted generational investments that are building Ontario’s end-to-end EV supply chain and creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process.

But rather than supporting our low-tax agenda, the NDP and Liberals in this House continue to support the federal government’s carbon tax. They will never miss an opportunity to support tax increases as they are doing with the federal carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is positioning Ontario as a global powerhouse in EV production by keeping costs low?

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. Some $15 billion in public funds have been committed to build the NextStar battery plant in Windsor, with a third of that committed by the province. On this side of the House, we welcomed that investment and the good jobs that are supposed to come with it. Stellantis-LG is potentially looking to have international workers build and staff the plant—a pretty big loophole if the province missed it.

Speaker, the government’s going to point fingers and state borders are federal, but what is this government doing right now to protect long-term Ontarian jobs at NextStar?

I first want to say, Speaker, we’re excited about the world-class EV battery manufacturing that’s taking place in Ontario thanks to the leadership of this Premier and this Minister of Economic Development.

Speaker, the Minister of Economic Development and I have asked a very simple question; we’ve written to the federal government and asked them to disclose the number of foreign workers currently working on the site and how many will be arriving at the site via the labour market impact assessment. Then, we just asked simply that the federal government disclose the labour impact assessment, make it public and just share with Ontarians how many foreign workers they expect to arrive.

We know there’s going to be thousands of good Ontario unionized jobs created on this site, and it’s no thanks to the members opposite. We’re creating those jobs thanks to investments this government is making. I look forward to explaining to the member from Windsor West next about more work this great government is doing to invest in jobs.

You know, Speaker, I’ve got the letter from that member opposite where she meanders to talk about MZOs, but there’s one thing we do agree about: This $15-billion project is of huge significance to my community, our province and our country. What that member fails to recognize is the very MZOs she talks about in this letter—we issued one to get that record investment in her community.

Secondly, this minister and this Premier have been working around the clock to land these deals, no thanks to them. They voted against every single measure in this place to support workers in her own community. Those workers know that the only time they’ll see that member is when she and her seatmate show up for the photo op.

Speaker, they can decry everything they want, notwithstanding the decent photo op, because that’s what NDP stands for. They only show up for—

Interjections.

And the supplementary question.

The Minister of Infrastructure.

Interjections.

Interjections.

The next question.

Interjections.

The next question.

Mr. Speaker, to the Premier: The plan that you have, there was no environmental assessment, and your plan is actually to clear-cut 800 mature trees and destroy the habitat for 125 bird species and other wildlife. There was no environmental assessment just because this government, just before they announced the call for the Ontario Place redevelopment, made regulatory changes that exempted this project from the Environmental Assessment Act. Did the government make those changes so the public would not know the truth about the environmental vandalism the Premier was planning at Ontario Place?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. Instead of building homes, your government has wasted time and money on the $8.3-billion greenbelt scandal and forced boundary expansions, which you are now reversing. Housing starts are not on track, and the RCMP is closing in.

Tomorrow will be exactly one year since I tabled bills to legalize home building in existing communities without paving over farmland and lining the pockets of speculators, saying no to expensive sprawl and saying yes in my backyard.

So, Speaker, will the Premier say yes to my bills to legalize building fourplexes, walk-up apartments and mid-rise housing so people can find a home they can afford in the communities they know and love?

I’m focused on building homes that ordinary people can afford in the communities they want to live in. So the government has an opportunity. I’m happy to help them here. They have an opportunity to say yes to legalizing fourplexes, four-storey walk-up apartments and mid-rise developments so ordinary people can afford homes. Will they say yes to that?

The member for Waterloo will come to order. The member for Brantford–Brant will come to order.

The Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade can reply.

The next question.

The Attorney General can reply.

Thank you to the minister for his dedicated work for this province.

Under the previous Liberal government, years of high taxes and endless red tape led to countless businesses to pack up and leave that province. Thankfully, from the first day we took office, we’ve been focused on lowering costs for businesses, which is why we’ve seen record investment in job creation across the province. Yet last week, a Liberal member in this House spoke in support of a federal carbon tax—a tax that’s making everything more expensive for businesses.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the federal government’s plan to continue hiking the carbon tax will affect Ontario’s businesses?

Thank you very much, Speaker.

We have to think about where we were in 2018. Speaker, we had lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs. The Liberals, supported by the NDP, had left Ontario completely unprepared. In fact, in 2019, Reuters announced there would be $300 billion spent on the EV supply chain and not one penny of it was scheduled to come to Canada—not one penny of it.

Our government took office, reduced the cost of doing business by $8 billion annually and, as a direct result in our negotiations with all of the companies, we landed $27 billion worth of auto and EV. Bloomberg has announced us as the number two global supply chain and that’s because we kept taxes low.

The Liberals lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs. They wanted us out of manufacturing and into the service sector. They jeopardized our competitiveness. They tripled the carbon tax. They are tripling the carbon tax by 2030—they’re going to add 37 cents a litre. They’re going to continue to jeopardize our competitiveness, just like they did for the 15 years that they were in office. Speaker, we cannot go back to the days of the Liberal tax-and-spend. That’s why we want them to axe the carbon tax.

Interjection.

I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the judicial advisory committee and how they work. I’ll tell you, Mr. Speaker, we have been working to make the system more transparent and more fair.

Talking about choice, when we came to government, the committee would give two names to the Attorney General for choice. They could get a hundred applications. They could do fifty interviews and two names would come forward. Those are the only two names that you would see. In one occasion, I got John Smith and Joan Smith in one location; and Joan Smith and John Smith in the other—effectively, giving you choice: “Would you like vegetables? It’s peas.” That’s it. There was no choice.

So we changed in 2021 to allow for six names per appointment, because the Attorney General is charged with making that appointment. We’ve also made other changes to improve the process. We’ve been very open about our criteria.

Now, rather than the conspiracy theories that abound in NDP, I would like to know which one of the 83 judges I have appointed she doesn’t like.

What I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, is that we work closely with the Ontario Bar Association, with the Law Society of Ontario, and with the Federation of Ontario Law Associations. We work with the judiciary. And the Judicial Appointments Advisory Committee is that. It’s an advisory committee. Of all of the Chief Justices, the regional senior judges, the JPs, the regional senior JPs, the Associate Chief Justices, and the 83 judges that this government has appointed, I challenge the NDP to tell me one that is inappropriate.