It’s great to be—

However, I am thrilled to have my wonderful wife Melissa joining us today up in the west gallery.

It’s with great pleasure that I welcome constituent of Thornhill and author of You Don’t Make Friends with Salad, Jessica Gerlock.

I want to welcome the Interfaith Social Assistance Reform Coalition to the Legislature today, and in particular the attendees, Rev. Dr. Susan Eagle, Elin Goulden, Greg deGroot-Maggetti, Alexander Wilson, Ryan Friedman and Natasha Fransblow. Welcome to the Legislature; we look forward to meeting you today.

It’s a beautiful morning, everyone. I’d like to introduce page Henry Hasler. Although he’s from the riding of Hastings–Lennox and Addington, he’s currently residing in beautiful Beaches–East York, where I will have many a conversation with him about great things in our riding.

I, also, would like to introduce the wonderful page captain that we have here, Henry Hasler. We also have his family here—Joel Hasler, Beth Hasler, Maggie and Mary Hasler are here visiting from my riding. We greatly appreciate their being here and Henry’s service today.

And if you’ll bear with me, Speaker, I do have a second introduction. The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus representatives are here today: warden of Renfrew county, Mr. Peter Emon; warden of Peterborough county, Bonnie Clark, who’s the vice-chair; CAO of Peterborough county, Sheridan Graham; Emmanuel Pinto, executive assistant to the warden in Peterborough county; and Meredith Staveley-Watson, manager of government relations for the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus. I know the EOWC is meeting with many members today. I wish them the best of luck.

Speaker, you’ll appreciate this since you were elected in 1990. I have a friend and colleague who’s worked for our caucus in government, in opposition, even as the third party. Today is her 33rd work anniversary. I want to congratulate Dianne Tominac.

Good morning, colleagues. It is my pleasure to welcome to the Legislature today the Premier’s Council on Equality of Opportunity, which are made up of members from right across the province of Ontario. I just want to thank them for their continued and dedicated work year-round in creating a safer, stronger and more inclusive Ontario.

Point of order, the member for Newmarket–Aurora.

Yes. Speaker, I would like to wish all of our American friends a very happy US Thanksgiving.

I forgot to say “happy US Thanksgiving” to my husband this morning. Happy Thanksgiving to my husband and all my American family.

Good morning. It’s my pleasure to welcome to the chamber this morning David Gale, president of ACTRA Toronto, and Alistair Hepburn, executive director of ACTRA Toronto. ACTRA Toronto is the largest organization of cultural workers in Canada. Welcome to your House.

Will the Premier finally tell all Ontarians the full extent of his involvement in the greenbelt scandal, or do we have to wait for the RCMP to finish their criminal investigation?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to introduce two constituents today—

But anyway, I want to introduce two constituents from the great Kenora–Rainy River riding: Henry Wall is here, the chief administrative officer of the Kenora District Services Board, and my favourite—no offence, Henry—Christy Radbourne, the director of education for the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board. We welcome them to this magnificent place.

As the Leader of the Opposition knows full well, this government has been focused on building homes since day one. The Premier has been very, very clear on that. Since 2018, we’ve brought in housing supply action plans each and every year of our mandate. Because of those positive builds, we have seen housing starts increase to their highest levels in over 15 years, and that includes purpose-built rentals.

With respect to the greenbelt, we have also been clear that we made a public policy decision that was focused on building more homes faster. The policy decision was obviously not supported by the people of the province of Ontario. That is why there is a bill before this House to restore those lands to the greenbelt, but to go even further: to provide an additional layer of protection on the lands, layers of protection that have never been the case ever before. We’re quite proud of that. But at the same time, we will double down and make sure that we build those 1.5 million homes for the people of the province of Ontario.

Having said that, Speaker, we are very focused on building 1.5 million homes, on eliminating the obstacles that have been put in the way by the previous Liberal and NDP coalition in this province, which saw housing starts fall to their lowest in years. On top of that, the policies supported by the Liberals and NDP—high debt, high taxes, red tape and out-of-control spending—have led to an inflation crisis across Canada, which has led to the most rapid increase in interest rates that we’ve ever seen in this country. We are also fighting back on that.

But having said all of that, I am very encouraged. We’re still seeing housing starts remain very, very strong, so the people of the province of Ontario can still share in that dream of getting out of their parents’ basements, where the NDP would like to keep them, and having the dream of home ownership be theirs.

What we are doing is this: We are building a strong Ontario. We have cut taxes and eliminated red tape. We have brought bills before this House to improve home care and long-term care. We are building roads, bridges, hospitals. Employment is at its highest—

Interjections.

I’m incredibly grateful for the tremendous contributions of Ontario’s public sector workers, and I appreciate the opportunity given to me by the Leader of the Opposition to highlight some of the significant investments our government has made and is continuing to make in high-quality services that Ontarians deserve.

When it comes to health care, we’re making record investments in a system that was neglected by the previous government, propped up by the NDP. Our investments have built 3,500 hospital beds across the province. We’ve launched the largest medical school expansion in this province’s history. We’ve registered 63,000 new nurses and we reduced the surgical backlog to pre-pandemic levels. We’re continuing to get shovels in the ground on 15 new hospital developments across the province.

These are critical projects that the NDP and the Liberals have voted against consistently. We will continue to deliver for Ontarians.

Three cabinet ministers have resigned or run for the exit. From stag and does to Vegas vacations to secret USB keys, there are still so many unanswered questions. Ontarians deserve answers.

Staff in the Conservatives’ inner circles are leaving under a cloud of suspicion and they’re lawyering up. The Premier has said the buck stops with him, so let’s hear from him. Will the Premier finally come clean and explain his personal involvement in the greenbelt scandal?

Interjections.

Interjections.

The government said they were going to clean things up. That’s what the Premier said when he ran, and now he’s embroiled in a scandal that has seen ethics laws broken. Both the current and former ministers of housing confirmed that interviews with the RCMP were ongoing. My question is for the Premier: How many current or former cabinet ministers or political staff have been questioned by the RCMP?

This government talks a good game when it comes to workers, but their actions tell a really different story. Ontario’s nurses fought hard to secure wage increases above the limits imposed by this government’s Bill 124, that unconstitutional bill. And since then, other deserving public sector workers have won back some of the wages that this government tried to suppress. They had to take this government to court to do it, though.

My question is to the Premier: Will the Premier finally repeal his unconstitutional Bill 124?

To the Premier again: Has the Premier finally realized he can’t push around working people in this province, or is he going to try it again?

This week in Ottawa, they’re debating Bill C-58. It would prevent replacement workers—let’s call them scabs—from being brought in and prolonging labour disputes. The Premier’s friend, Mr. Poilievre and his Conservatives, have been completely silent on this. Will the Premier stay silent as well, or will he support the NDP’s bill to ban replacement workers once and for all in the province of Ontario?

Interjections.

Talking about our relationship with unions, I’m very proud to confirm that this government got a deal with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, delivering stability for 950,000 children—

Interjections.

I’m going to caution the Leader of the Opposition on some of the language that she’s using.

I’ll allow the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing to reply.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Interjections.

Start the clock. Leader of the Opposition.

Next question?

We can start the clock. The Minister of Education can reply.

The final supplementary.

I guess the minister forgot that the Conservative government voted against anti-scab legislation when I was a worker standing over here while scabs were crossing my picket line.

In the gallery, Speaker, we have members from ACTRA representing 6,000 of their members, who have been locked out for 18 months while wealthy ad agencies are demanding wage cuts and an end to benefits and retirement contributions. And then, because Ontario doesn’t have anti-scab legislation, they locked them out and hired scab labour to do the work.

Instead of standing with these workers, the Conservative government keeps buying ads from union-busting ad agencies. For 18 months, the Premier has turned his back on these workers. For 18 months, the Premier has been proud to use ad agencies using scab workers in government-funded ads.

My question: Will the Conservative government finally stand with these 6,000 workers instead of wealthy union-busting corporations and pass the NDP’s anti-scab legislation?

Interjections.

Members will please take their seats.

Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Interjection.

Interjections.

The Minister of Labour.

Start the clock. Supplementary question, the member for Oshawa.

No, we won’t be supporting that piece of legislation. When the opposition held the balance of power and had the opportunity to introduce this over 15 years, they didn’t.

But what this government has done is that we’ve created unparalleled economic opportunity. You know who wins when we create that economic opportunity? Unions, labour, unionized jobs. We’ve created the conditions for incredible economic growth that’s seen Unifor workers on the job. Labour unions recognize that when our economy succeeds, they succeed.

We’ve been investing in training and skills development that’s lifting people up and supporting unions in the process. That’s why, in the last election, we were endorsed by eight of them. I know members opposite are really struggling. They’re caught between the woke ideologies of folks in downtown Toronto and their labour roots, and they’re being pulled apart at the seams. That’s why that leader ran unopposed in the last leadership.

Speaker, we’re going to stay focused on working with labour unions, supporting labour, creating unparalleled economic growth so that unionized—

Folks in Sudbury know that my office door is always open to support those capital projects for unionized workers. We’re going to keep creating those opportunities, and when he stands up another quarter from now, hopefully we will have approved some of those projects to get those union—

Interjections.

Speaker, I’m hearing stories of refugees, asylum seekers, given opportunities to work in union training centres. I’m hearing contractors who are working hand-in-hand with unionized workforces to create opportunities in this great province that is Ontario, Speaker. Perhaps that member should walk around and talk to the auto workers who, thanks to the leadership of this Premier and this Minister of Economic Development, have tons of jobs in creating the electric vehicles, the batteries and the EV automotive jobs of the future being done by workers here in Ontario, thanks to the leadership of this Premier.