Once again, it’s a pleasure for me to stand and advise the assembly of some great things happening in the riding of Essex. As we know, one of this government’s goals is to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years, and one of the organizations that’s going to help get to that goal is the Women’s Enterprise Skills Training, or WEST, organization.

WEST concentrates on giving skills and training women, especially women in underrepresented groups, in the skilled trades. WEST has a collaboration with another great organization called LIUNA, the Labourers’ International Union of North America Local 625. Together, WEST and LIUNA are going to help build the skills we need to build homes.

All of this is made possible in part through a generous grant given to these organizations by the government of the province of Ontario. I want to thank the great people at LIUNA and the great people at WEST, especially Rose Anguiano Hurst, who is from my hometown of Amherstburg, Ontario, for helping us help the people get the skills that we need to build 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.

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.