Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

Mr. Calandra moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 134, An Act to amend the Development Charges Act, 1997 and the St. Thomas-Central Elgin Boundary Adjustment Act, 2023 / Projet de loi 134, Loi modifiant la Loi de 1997 sur les redevances d’aménagement et la Loi de 2023 sur la modification des limites territoriales entre St. Thomas et Central Elgin.

I always appreciate the opportunity to rise and speak to another bill, which we believe will help incentivize and move housing construction across the province of Ontario. I’ll be splitting my time, of course, with the Associate Minister of Housing, as well as the parliamentary assistant to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Today, obviously, we’re talking about Bill 134, which is the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act. The bill is realistically titled and is simply put, Mr. Speaker. First, I think it’s important to just talk about some of the things that we’ve been doing on housing and why we’ve had to bring forward this bill. It’s not just about housing, I will say; it’s also about helping unleash opportunity, specifically in St. Thomas. But I’ll get to all of that.

As you know, Speaker, we have been focused since 2018 on how we can improve the environment to build more homes across the province of Ontario. We have set a very ambitious goal of building 1.5 million homes across the province of Ontario—

Interruption.

But anyway, it’s probably the school calling to say that my daughter is not there. Since I know the school watches intently, my daughter, of course, has permission not to be at school this morning, so I think everything will be just fine.

Interjection: The 613.

Interjection: The 1-800.

As you know, we’ve been focused on building more homes across the province of Ontario. We said we want to build 1.5 million homes—a very, very ambitious target for sure—but we’ve also said we want to do that in every corner of the province because we know how important it is that all communities participate in this goal of building homes.

And it’s all kinds of homes that we are wanting to build. We want to build market homes, rental, affordable, attainable. The not-for-profit sector is important. We’re also talking about building more long-term-care homes for seniors. We’ve got some projects that we’re doing—a project in particular in Kenora, which is a mixed type of housing which has both long-term care, which has market and affordable housing elements in it. So, we’ve been very focused on that.

As you know, Madam Speaker, we’ve also introduced four bills, four pieces of legislation aimed at removing obstacles, cutting red tape, reducing costs so that we can get more shovels in the ground faster. We have seen the consequences of previous decisions, I would say, that really frustrated the home-building industry in the province of Ontario and which really kept them out for a long period of time. For over a decade, we had depressed housing starts across Ontario as it became harder and harder and harder to get shovels in the ground. At the same time, we saw infrastructure investment across Ontario not keep up with the demand of a growing population. All of that hurt in terms of getting more shovels in the ground.

So, we’ve said really early on in the mandate and made a commitment that we would bring in a new bill every year to help untangle some of the obstacles that were getting in the way, but at the same time, real progress on rebuilding our infrastructure so that we built a transportation system across the province that would help support a growing economy. Across that transportation centre, in particular in our larger urban centres of Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor, for starters, we want to build more homes along those transit corridors, which includes York region. When I say that, I mean the entire greater Toronto-Hamilton area. There are massive investments in transit and transportation happening in those areas, and we want to ensure that, along those corridors, we have as many homes built as possible. Not only does that help reduce our carbon footprint by taking cars off the road, but it makes it easier for people to get back and forth to work.

We also knew early on that we had to do a lot better in helping incentivize the construction of purpose-built rentals. We were at historic lows in this province when it came to purpose-built rentals and we were falling very, very far behind. A consequence of that, both on the rental housing side and on the home-building side, is that we started to see prices skyrocket and homes of all types becoming unaffordable.

We also started to see how it was impacting other sectors, whether it was for seniors, whether it was for students. We have some of, if not the best colleges and universities anywhere in the world, and people from all over the world want to come to our institutions here. As well, because of the changes and the improvements we made, as you will agree, Madam Speaker, in the education system, we’re seeing more and more Ontarians who want to further their education, whether it’s college or university or in the trades, becoming apprentices, which we’ve really seen a revitalization of that as well. But some of the factors holding us back in many communities, certainly in a lot of the smaller communities—the inability or the lack of available rental available housing stock.

So, these are all the things that we were facing. This bill here in particular, in turn, it brings forward a new definition of affordable housing. Now, this is a definition that takes into account a number of things, but most importantly, it takes into account both market conditions in an area but also income in an area. It takes those two factors based on CMHC data and StatsCanada data across the province. So in every community, the definition of affordable housing might be a little bit different so that we can meet the goals of each particular community, because what we heard from our municipal partners was that a standardized definition of affordability across the province is not something that would work for them. That is why the definition that we brought forward takes into account those conditions. I will say it has been very well received by our partners across the province—by “partner” I mean our municipal friends—and I dare say I think it was supported at second reading here in the chamber by all parties, so I was very, very happy about that.

That, then, also with this bill, helps build on some of the more recent announcements that we made, of course again constantly focused on putting more shovels in the ground. The Building Faster Fund is another opportunity for us to support those communities that want to get shovels in the ground. Now, I will acknowledge I have been hearing from some of our big-city mayors that they had hoped that we would change the parameters around the Building Faster Fund. As I announced yesterday, that was not going to change, but I wanted to make sure that our partners in all communities understand the purpose of the Building Faster Fund.

We’ve introduced strong-mayor powers across almost 50 different municipalities. These strong-mayor powers are focused exclusively on helping put shovels in the ground faster. That is our focus right now. We’ve heard it constantly talked about, a wartime effort to get shovels in the ground so that we can build more homes across the province of Ontario. So we extended strong-mayor powers to almost 50 communities, 50 of the largest or the fastest-growing communities.

The Building Faster Fund, which is an over $1.2-billion fund, is there to support communities that are able to meet their housing targets. I always try to give an example. There are some communities that are going to be able, in the short term, over the next year or two years, to not only meet but exceed their targets. There are some communities that will take a little bit longer to do so. But in those communities, which are more often than not in the short term, the communities that are able to meet their targets fastest are some of the smaller communities that have access to water and sewer capacity.

The reason that is important and the reason why the Building Faster Fund is so important to that—I take a community like mine in Stouffville. It is a smaller community in comparison to whether it be Markham or Toronto. They have the ability to meet and exceed their targets. They have the capacity in terms of water and infrastructure. But in order for them to do that, to meet and exceed the target, frankly, they need additional assistance, whether it is in terms of resources for planning staff, inspections, the whole gamut that helps them get the shovels in the ground faster, from review to shovels in the ground. They need assistance to do that.

The Building Faster Fund will give those communities that otherwise would not have the resources to meet and exceed the target access to funds that help them do it, while not punishing those communities that, for no fault of their own, might not, over the next year or two years, be in a position to meet that target, but may be in a position in the third year. Now, why bring that up? Because one of the things that is so very important—and we’re hearing this right across the board—is how important it is that we make bigger investments in the infrastructure to support housing.

Again, you’re going to hear this constant refrain: sewer and water capacity. We’re hearing it across the board. In order for us to meet our 1.5-million goal, we are going to have to make investments in that infrastructure, as well. We’ve started, of course, with an additional commitment in the budget to help unleash some of this sewer and water construction, but we know that we’re going to need to do more, and at the same time it is one of the reasons why we are so aggressively calling on—and it’s not just Ontario. I should say that it’s not just Ontario, but all across this country, provincial governments are asking the federal government to refocus their very generous housing dollars on those areas that will help us get shovels in the ground.

While the federal government, I will say, has made a very strong commitment—I believe it’s a $15-billion commitment to help build—and this is the part where it gets a little bit frustrating. It’s a $15-billion commitment, which is a strong commitment; I congratulate them on that, but that commitment gets us 200,000 homes according to the federal plan. I would suggest, Madam Speaker, that $15 billion will get us three million homes across the country, because where we are limited is by the sewer and water infrastructure. The provinces are prepared to partner with the federal government with the funds that they have allocated to get these shovels in the ground.

We had an announcement last week—I won’t talk about it too much longer. We had an announcement last week in Toronto where a $1.2-billion federal commitment would result in the construction of 2,300 affordable homes. I’ll say this: a wonderful commitment in terms of money, but not a good outcome in terms of the numbers when you consider what shovels in the ground and what that money would mean to unleashing home construction in all sectors—affordable, attainable, market, long-term care and purpose-built rentals. So we’re really, strongly calling on the federal government to reassess that and to work with every single provincial government so that we can build on that.

The other thing that this bill does is the Attorney General will be reviewing the Ontario Land Tribunal. I think this is a very important piece. We have to constantly review those. Whether it’s the land tribunal, in this case—we have to be in a state of constant revision of those programs and adjudicative bodies, because circumstances are changing so quickly across the province of Ontario, and it is our goal to build these homes. The minister will be beginning a review of that—again, working with our municipal partners and our home-building community—with an eye on eliminating red tape, eliminating delays and what it takes to make a decision faster. I think that has been—I don’t think; I know it’s been very well received by both our municipal partners and our friends in the home-building community.

I want to just take another moment to talk about, if I can, the importance of making the correct investments in housing. The Minister of Finance, more than a year ago, talked about the importance of removing the HST from the construction of purpose-built rentals. This is something that we were on for over a year. We talked about it. We advocated for it. No progress was made on that. But recently, of course, the federal government decided that they would match Ontario’s commitment to remove the GST—or the HST and the GST would be removed, so the HST is gone from purpose-built rentals. Now, why is that important? Because not only is it an acknowledgement that high taxes stifle our ability to compete, but it stifles our ability, really, to get shovels in the ground. What that means for a unit, a single unit, is a savings of about anywhere between $45,000 and $55,000 per unit, making purpose-built rental affordable housing so much more attractive to the home-building community. We are seeing them respond, really, in numbers that we could not have imagined. We are at the highest level of purpose-built rentals in over 15 years, and I’m very confident that when next year’s numbers are in, we will have exceeded all expectations, partly on the back of the reduction or the elimination of the HST on those homes.

And we’re seeing them want to get into other areas as well, whether it’s student housing, for instance, and how we can rejuvenate our cities.

We had our first housing forum yesterday, and that housing forum brought together stakeholders from across not-for-profits—there were mayors there, councillors there from across Ontario, home builders in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors were there.

I had a really good opportunity to speak to a number of mayors, but the mayor of Kingston, in particular, talked to me about Queen’s University and the challenges that they’re having with student housing there, but that some of the changes that we are making and some of the things that they want to do will allow them to take some of their oldest homes, which have become student homes—admittedly, I may have visited a homecoming or two when I was in university, in some of the older homes that they have. Some of these policies will allow them to take down some of the oldest student housing in their community and replace it with five-, six-, seven-, eight-, nine-storey buildings for student housing, which will have an incredible impact on that university’s ability to continue to compete and attract students—but also for him, an incredible impact on his city, because it allows them to rejuvenate areas of the city that otherwise have become unattractive for other people in Kingston to be a part of. So they are very, very excited by some of the things that we are doing.

I know Minister Flack as well as the parliamentary assistant are going to talk about the extraordinary things that are happening, how this bill impacts St. Thomas. I know it’s really important in their community. So I did want to touch on that, because I think they’ll do a far better job of it than I could.

But all of that is to say, as I wrap up, that it’s actually a very exciting step. Having this definition of affordable housing so well received, not only by the opposition but by colleagues across the province, really taking an obstacle out of the way, but also helping to build on some of the pieces that we’ve already introduced to get more shovels in the ground.

As I said yesterday at the forum, we have to dream big in this province, and we are not in a position where we can disappoint the people. I know we talked about it—a question period thing, that we’ve got to get people out of their parents’ basements. We are not in a position, as a parliament, to fail on that mission. If others could accomplish this in previous decades, there is absolutely no reason why we can’t do it.

We’re going to build more homes in our large, small and medium-sized communities across the province. We’re going to build them across the spectrum—as I said, market rental, not-for-profit, attainable student housing, seniors’ housing—because that is what the market requires us to do. That is what the people of the province of Ontario require us to do. This is the next step on the way—but it’s certainly not the next step.

And with that, I will yield the floor to the associate minister.

Want me to take it, Paul? Want me to take it?

Maybe it’s Jagmeet calling for the—

It’s a great honour to be here today and speak after the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing on this opportunity to build houses in this province, to speak about Bill 134, the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, as the Associate Minister of Housing.

Obviously, we need to build more homes, and faster. Too many people in this province are struggling to find an affordable place to live. It is a crisis, in my opinion. It’s an all hands on deck approach.

I do, like the minister did, want to talk about the housing forum—the first ever in the province—throughout my remarks this morning.

Too many families can no longer afford mortgages and are having trouble saving up for the larger down payments they need to buy a house. Think about it: A lot of people have a lot of income, good incomes, they’re saving as best they can, but the affordability crisis that we are faced with today in this province is hurting their chance to buy a home. In fact, we know of some people who have put up to 20, 21 offers on homes, weren’t able to get it done, and since then have lost the ability to even afford to buy because of increased costs in this province, whether it’s inflation, whether it’s interest rates, whether it’s the punitive carbon tax that we’re all facing. It’s a head-on storm in front of people. The higher cost is just making it unattainable to buy houses.

That is why affordable housing is a critical component of this plan. We are working hard to build a range of housing Ontarians need right across Ontario.

The proposed Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act is bold and innovative legislation that will help build a pathway to housing stability and home ownership throughout Ontario. It would update the definition of affordable residential units that would quality for municipal development related charges, discounts and exemptions. This would support our government’s efforts to help increase the supply of affordable homes by lowering the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes right across the province. It would also help make it easier for people to find a home that truly meets their needs and their budgets. It would also help make it easier for people to find a home that is in the community they want to live.

But first I’d like to provide some background on how we got here. The effect of housing affordability is widespread in Ontario communities, impacting local businesses and the local economy. That’s what we’re hearing from communities all over the province. It is a version of the same story wherever we go: Home ownership and rental prices are both increasingly out of reach for so many.

That is why our government needed to take a new direction, to take bold action. As such, our government did take action to start addressing the affordability crisis. Through Bill 23, the More Homes Built Faster Act, which supported our third housing supply action plan, we introduced discounts and exemptions from municipal development-related charges for affordable residential units.

Development charges are a tool municipalities use to raise money for growth-related infrastructure like water and roads, understandably. Development charges are one of the three main charges levied on new housing developments by municipalities. They also collect parkland dedication fees, which can be either money or land and which are used to create parks; and community benefit charges, which can be used to help fund community services or facilities such as libraries and community centres, all good actions indeed.

Our government specified that once the changes take effect, affordable—I emphasize “affordable”—residential units would not be required to pay development charges, parkland dedication fees and community benefit charges.

Under Bill 23, the Development Charges Act was amended to define an affordable residential rental unit as a unit rented at “no greater than 80% of the average market rent” and it was amended to define an affordable unit as a unit sold at “no greater than 80% of the average purchase price.”

The goal of this change was to make it cheaper and easier to build truly affordable homes, since development-related charges can add well over $100,000 to the cost of a single-family home in some Ontario municipalities. This obviously makes housing unaffordable. It raises the price, with our head-on winds in terms of high costs, making it unaffordable for home buyers to even consider buying a home.

We’ve seen results. In the last month, I’ve visited new affordable housing sites, including a groundbreaking for a Habitat for Humanity site called Garafraxa Village in Fergus. I can tell you, it was a great pleasure to be there. We had FRPO, the Federation of Rental-housing Providers of Ontario; we had Habitat for Humanity; and we had the local municipalities. It’s all hands on deck. Everyone is supporting this project, and it was exciting to see.

Habitat for Humanity was able to benefit from the removal of development charges and they saved hundreds of thousands of dollars, which allowed them to build more homes on this site and they will continue to do so in the weeks and months ahead. It’s true for them and it’s been true for any affordable housing that’s been built since we passed Bill 23.

Again, from the housing forum yesterday, it was obvious that people truly appreciated the change based on this legislation, as it has made housing for all purpose-built homes, be they homes or rentals, much more affordable.

Making changes to the Development Charges Act that would exempt affordable residential units from municipal development-related charges was an important step in working to support the building of more affordable homes in Ontario.

But the exemptions are not yet in force. For the purpose of these exemptions, we need to first identify the market rent and the average purchase price in the municipality. In developing this it was found that the definition of an affordable residential unit would generally result in prices not affordable to moderate-income Ontarians. In working to implement the exemptions for affordable residential units, our government engaged a broad range of stakeholders, including those in industry and the municipalities.

What we heard through these consultations is that they had to truly help more moderate-income Ontarians to find homes that they want to live in. The definition of an affordable residential unit needs to reflect market conditions and incorporate income factors. Market conditions and incorporating income factors are key.

Speaker, the changes proposed through Bill 134, the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, consider this important feedback. We are proposing a revised definition of residential affordable units that would, if passed, take local incomes into account in addition to local market factors. Residential units that meet the definition would be eligible for the municipal development-related charge discounts and exemptions. This approach will reflect the ability of local households to pay for housing and recognizes the diversity of housing markets across the province. Toronto is different than Dorchester. Windsor is different than Ottawa. We understand this, and we have welcomed further feedback on the proposed amendments through our postings on the Environmental Registry of Ontario and the Regulatory Registry. During these consultations, we received nearly 100 submissions from individuals and organizations right across Ontario.

The new definitions we’re proposing are as follows:

—for ownership, a unit would be considered affordable when the purchase price is at or below the least expensive of the following two criteria: a price resulting in housing costs that are no more than 30% of a household’s annual income for moderate-income households, taking local income households into account; or secondly, at least 10% below the average purchase price of a unit in the applicable local municipality;

—for rental housing, a unit would be considered affordable when the rent is at or below the least expensive of the following two criteria: again, 30% of the household’s income annual income for moderate-income households, taking local renter household incomes into account; or average market rent of a unit in the applicable local municipality;

—for both ownership and rental, moderate-household income refers to those in the 60th percentile of the income distribution in the applicable local municipality; and

—affordable residential units, both rental and ownership, that meet the province’s new definition would be eligible for discounts and exemptions from the municipal development-related fees.

Through these proposed changes, we’re taking the next steps in our efforts to lower the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes right across Ontario. Discounts and exemptions on municipal development-related fees would help lower the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes across the province.

Speaker, it’s working. As the minister noted earlier, we’re up nearly 15,000 new rental unit starts year over year. We’re encouraged by this sign, and we’ve got to keep that momentum going. This would help ensure more Ontarians in all parts of the province can find a truly affordable home.

The proposed changes, if passed, would also incentivize builders to create housing at a lower cost. By exempting and discounting municipal development-related charges on affordable residential units, we are counting on the affordable housing building sector to step up and help build significantly more affordable homes, and I can say, Speaker, that based on the housing forum yesterday, people are committed, they’re dedicated and they’re willing to step up and help get the job done.

In addition to affordable homes, we also recognize the need for attainable housing, supporting the dream of home ownership for all Ontarians and building homes in mixed-income communities that are accessible to all. We’re hearing far too often how people with good jobs still can’t find a home to call their own. It is a tragedy. The dream of home ownership has become unattainable for so many Ontarians.

And, Speaker, I’ll just pause here for a second and remind again—I’d like to use this analogy. When I bought my first home a long time ago, interest rates were 19%. I’d saved up, had a down payment and bought the house in Guelph, Ontario. I could make the math work. It was tight; it was tough. I took out an open mortgage. Fortunately, after a year, the mortgage dropped to 12%. I thought I was in Shangri-La—all this extra money flowing in to afford life etc. Think of it today—at 19%. We think of 6% or 7% today and it’s unattainable for people. So when you can’t make the math work today, it’s obvious we have a massive, massive supply issue. That is why we have all hands on deck, again, to try and get that done so the math does work for Ontarians who do want to buy their own home or at least get stable housing in this province.

To help address this, we are working on a new attainable housing program to rapidly build attainable homes that will help families across Ontario build portable equity, portable equity. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, alongside Infrastructure Ontario—again, a partner at yesterday’s housing forum—and other partner ministries will continue to work on developing an attainable housing program, including the definition of “attainable.” I look forward to sharing more information about this as the program details become available.

Just pause for second and talk about the housing forum yesterday, it was a great event: nearly 300 people there. Again, as the minister said, we had mayors and wardens from Ontario’s large cities and rural communities; we had developers there; we had home builders there; we had the modular sector there, which I will talk about in a bit and which was very exciting; not-for-profit was there, in spades, doing a wonderful job. We weren’t sure how everyone was going to get along, but it was a wonderful example of a non-partisan focused event, trying to get shovels in the ground faster and more affordably for Ontarians. We look forward to sharing the results of that forum in the time to come.

Again, I will talk about our modular opportunities a little bit later. We need to ramp up this sector as an important tool in the toolbox, in terms of getting shovels in the ground faster and also to repurpose surplus government lands to make sure that we can help our communities get houses built for those who need homes, day in and day out.

Despite the market challenges for Ontario and Canada, as a whole, we have made meaningful progress. Both 2021 and 2022, we saw housing starts up over the highest ever in 30 years, close to 100,000 homes built in each of those years. We’re down a little bit this year, but we’re at a pretty good pace. These are the most housing starts we’ve seen since the mid-1980s. But despite this progress throughout Ontario, we’re still seeing low housing supply and high rental prices.

Remember, we have a population that has changed. Since I was in high school—I’ve told this story before—I’ve seen the population of this province more than double. We’ve kept up in terms of creating economic growth. We’re able to feed everybody. Wherever we are, we still export more food than we consume, but the third leg of the stool, where we are lacking success today is in the housing sector. That is what we’re focused on and focused on every day.

Housing prices are not realistic or sustainable for too many Ontario families. We know this. Ontario’s most recent housing supply action plan, the fifth of which will come out next year, Helping Homebuyers, Protecting Tenants is the latest in the series of steps taken by the province to help more people find a home they can afford. We’re committed to advancing the housing supply action plan every year for four years—soon to be five years—to help address new challenges, meet the unique needs and adapt to the current environment that we all live in today.

As the minister noted and the parliamentary assistant will talk about in a few minutes in March of this year, the city of St. Thomas welcomed the new Volkswagen opportunity, Europe’s largest automaker, and will establish its subsidiary PowerCo SE’s electric-vehicle-battery-manufacturing facility—just now part of St. Thomas. As the MPP for that riding, we’re obviously very proud of this achievement. It’s obviously going to bring thousands of jobs not only to our local communities, but throughout the province: 3,000 direct jobs related to the plant, 30,000 tertiary jobs that will be supported right across from the Ring of Fire right throughout the province—supporting this important manufacturing sector for the province. Again, it’s what we need. We can grow the food to feed everybody. We’re creating economic development. What we need, though, is houses and homes to get these people well housed to prepare for their futures in Ontario in this exciting sector.

Through the proposed Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, we are focused on creating the conditions for growth and the construction that will take place, making it less expensive to getting houses built. We are further incentivizing municipalities to build more housing with the government’s Building Faster Fund, which is under way now. This new program will put municipalities and the province on a path to achieve our common objective of increasing housing supply. Again, I always emphasize this; we have a housing supply issue. It’s 15 million people in this province—more than doubled in the last 40 years or 50 years. It’s going to be close to 20 million people before we know it.

In fact, I think I’m right, and I’ve heard my colleagues speak. They expect the GTHA to be as big as the province is today, in total, in 10 years. So we are growing and growing fast.

Our new program will incentivize municipalities to build more housing, as I said. It will provide financial support for municipalities that can be directed toward housing-enabling infrastructure and related costs that support community growth.

The province has also extended strong-mayor powers to 18 additional municipalities that are projected to have populations of 50,000 by 2031 and whose heads of council are committed to a provincially assigned housing target. These powers include:

—provide the tools for the mayors in these municipalities to help drive increased housing supply; and

—to speed up local planning approvals and enable mayors to put forward budgets that could allocate resources to priority items.

Extending strong-mayor powers is an example of how we are working with our municipal partners to ensure they have the tools they need to build more housing, including a greater supply of affordable units.

In conclusion, Speaker, I am excited obviously to be here as the associate minister and to support the proposed changes and measures under the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act. This government will continue to work closely with municipalities to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis and we’ll help more Ontarians find a home that meets their needs and their budgets throughout the province. It’s through this type of bold action that we will deliver on our government’s commitment to help build at least 1.5 million homes by 2031. And I want to emphasize again, Speaker, that affordable housing is a critical component of this plan.

I’ll just conclude by saying I had the opportunity to meet with the University of Western Ontario this morning. I’m pleased to announce that they are building 1,100 new beds for students. Shovels will be in the ground next year. So we’re showing that success is on the way, but more is left to be done.

Again, from the housing forum, I want to emphasize that we had a really good meeting. I think the parliamentary assistant to the MMAH would agree. Scale and speed is important to get it done. The modular factor is going to be a key component. I was very proud of the people who showed up and helped participate in developing meaningful solutions and deliverables, not just talk. So, I’m excited about the opportunities that rest before us. I’m excited about Ontario’s housing sector.

I would now like to turn the floor over to our parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

It’s my pleasure to share the government’s remaining time on the lead today, as parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and to speak to Bill 134, the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act. I want to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing for providing a concise overview of the bill this morning—and his relationship with his daughter.

I also want to thank the Associate Minister of Housing for the detailed explanation of how this proposed legislation would support our government’s efforts to lower the cost of building, purchasing and renting affordable homes across the province.

Updating the definition of affordable residential units that would qualify for municipal development charge discounts and exemptions will truly help in that regard. And I know, as the minister and the associate minister mentioned in their remarks, there has been a lot of support from our municipal colleagues, whether that’s AMO, ROMA or the big city mayors around this proposed definition. I know, in speaking with some of my own local mayors in my riding of Perth–Wellington, they have told me that with this definition of affordable housing and a further bulletin—which would be coming after this bill, if it’s passed—it would help get affordable homes built in some of my own communities in rural Ontario, and ensuring that those discounts are available for them. Some home builders have already approached my local mayors and local councils around how they could work together to achieve this. It’s wonderful to see this progress already being encouraged in rural Ontario, and in my riding of Perth–Wellington in particular.

The Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, if passed, would also support our municipalities as they work to attract and create jobs. The proposed changes are meant to make it easier for communities to build the housing that Ontarians desperately need. This includes more affordable homes.

What I would also like to underline—and I think it’s a key moment in time to do so—is that it would complement other measures our government has put in place to help increase housing supply across the province. As my colleagues the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and the Associate Minister of Housing have already spoken about this morning, the proposed measures demonstrate our government’s strong commitment to working alongside our municipal partners. We’re committed to making life more affordable and better for everyone in Ontario, no matter where you live, whether that is in downtown Toronto or up in Kenora and Thunder Bay, Speaker, and supporting our municipalities with the tools needed to help get at least 1.5-million new homes built by 2031.

Speaker, we need to get shovels in the ground faster and to start building homes today for the workers of tomorrow. In March of this year, the city of St. Thomas welcomed the new Volkswagen plant. Europe’s largest automaker will establish its subsidiary PowerCo SE’s electric-vehicle-battery-manufacturing facility in their community of St. Thomas. Selecting St. Thomas as the location to build the company’s first overseas battery cell plant is a major vote of confidence in Canada and Ontario. It’s a vote of confidence in our shared work to position the country and the province as a global leader on the electric vehicle supply chain. It’s a testament to Ontario’s competitive environment, and we are an attractive investment destination with everything a company needs to grow and prosper.

The investment has been welcome news by local business leaders in St. Thomas but also surrounding communities—which my riding would include—in Stratford and St. Marys, Listowel and others as well, I know, from my colleagues in this place. It’s a positive impact for our business community, a positive impact for our communities at large. It’s going to attract thousands of good-paying jobs and ensure that we continue to build Ontario for the future. The Volkswagen Group and PowerCo SE’s historic investment to build this facility here will bring thousands of good-paying jobs and even more families to beautiful St. Thomas and beautiful Stratford and, really, all the communities of southern Ontario.

The manufacturing facility will be the largest of its kind in Canada, and it has the potential to be one of the largest electric vehicle battery plants in the world—in the entire world. Potentially, St. Thomas, Ontario, is going to have the largest electric-vehicle-battery plant here. This plant will have six production lines and make enough batteries for one million cars every year. What’s more, Volkswagen Group has plans to make 25 new electric vehicle models in the coming decades, and most of those batteries will come from St. Thomas. The plant is expected to employ up to 3,000 people and create thousands of spin-off jobs, as I’ve mentioned, across southwestern Ontario, helping support economic growth and prosperity for future generations. It’s estimated that it could be worth as much as $200 billion to the Canadian economy over the coming decades.

This investment represents the largest auto investment in our province’s history, and it’s a big win for Ontario, the people of St. Thomas and surrounding areas. This is an example of how our government continues to work to create the right conditions for businesses and workers to succeed now and in the future. We’re revitalizing Ontario’s auto sector and making Ontario the auto powerhouse of North America once again. The cars of the future will be made here in Ontario, from start to finish, from the minerals in northern Ontario to the battery cells in St. Thomas to the batteries in Windsor and much more I’m sure to come. They’ll be made—also very importantly—by Ontario workers. We recognize that this investment in St. Thomas will significantly strengthen the local community and, obviously, our provincial economy.

Through the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, Ontario is proposing changes to help support Volkswagen Group and PowerCo SE’s historic investment in St. Thomas. The agreement that was negotiated in partnership with the city of St. Thomas provides for the city to give municipal-based incentives as part of PowerCo SE’s project. However, the current rules against municipalities providing municipal-based incentives to any industrial or commercial enterprise limit the city of St. Thomas from providing some of the assistance outlined in the agreement.

The changes we are proposing would give the city of St. Thomas the authority to provide PowerCo SE municipal-based incentives that were negotiated in partnership with the municipality. The new authority would be restricted to St. Thomas only. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing would be provided with regulation-making authority to impose restrictions, limits and other conditions on St. Thomas’s new authority. In addition, the province consulted on this proposed change through a public posting on the regulatory registry of Ontario for a 30-day period.

Creating and supporting more shovel-ready mega sites, like St. Thomas, will help Ontario remain competitive as the province competes for major global investments.

These proposed changes represent our government’s efforts to attract new investments that will create more good-paying jobs and strengthen our economy.

Speaker, Ontario is a top-tier destination for investment and strategic business growth. Our government is committed to supporting and growing the province’s workforce. Ontario is ready to help with the creation of good-paying jobs in our municipalities that will help rebuild our economy, after 15 years of Liberal and NDP coalition. And we’re taking concrete action to attract jobs and investment.

The proposed changes in the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act are meant to further support municipalities as they work to attract and create jobs. A critical factor for securing new investment opportunities is having suitable industrial sites ready for companies to build on.

Similar to, as we are finding in municipal affairs and housing, and as the minister mentioned this morning, around infrastructure and waste water, it is having these sites ready, whether it is for homes or also, very importantly, for industrial companies that are looking to come to Ontario, to our attractive business environment, and to benefit from where we are physically located in the world—but also the great employees we train and retain in Ontario.

In November 2019, Ontario launched the Job Site Challenge to create an inventory of investment-ready mega sites. It was designed to attract large-scale advanced manufacturing investments that have the potential to create hundreds of new jobs across the province, in communities, whether they’re large or small. As part of this initiative, municipalities, economic development agencies and industrial property owners put forward large tracts of land of between 500 and 1,500 acres that could support large-scale manufacturing operations. One of the mega sites identified as part of the initiative involved 1,500 acres of land within the city of St. Thomas and the municipality of Central Elgin. However, with the land divided between two municipalities with different permitting requirements, we recognized that potential investors could face red tape and delays from unnecessary duplication. That’s why our government took decisive action and introduced legislation to adjust the municipal boundaries so the site resides fully in the city of St. Thomas. The site was then selected by Volkswagen Group and PowerCo SE as the location to build the electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing facility we are speaking about today. This is an example of a successful collaboration across governments—provincial, municipal and federal. It represents a collaboration to cut red tape and ensure the benefits of economic growth are enjoyed across the province, helping to speed up construction timelines and ensure there is truly a shovel-ready site for potential investment.

Speaker, as we continue to work to attract investment, build Ontario up and strengthen our economy, we’ll continue to attract more workers to Ontario. And we must ensure that all of our communities have the housing needed to support a strong workforce.

Our government also recognizes the growth demands being placed on large and fast-growing municipalities in Ontario. For example, the greater Toronto area is expected to grow by 2.9 million people by 2046. This means that within the next 23 years, we will need homes to accommodate an additional 2.9 million people. For my colleagues here this morning, for reference, when I graduated high school, which wasn’t that long ago, the province was roughly 12 million people. We are now 15 million people. Within that short amount of time, we have grown by three million people, which means obviously we need more homes.

But it’s not just housing; it’s an economic problem that can affect the entire province and even the entire country. The GTA is just one part of the greater Golden Horseshoe, which is the economic engine of Ontario. It generates more than 25% of Canada’s gross domestic product, but in order to tackle this crisis, Ontario requires workers, and workers require a place to live.

Speaker, the greater Golden Horseshoe is just one example. There are plenty of examples. Whether they’re from Windsor, London, Stratford, Kingston, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, our government works to support municipalities and helps make it easier to attract and create more jobs all across the province. The need for more housing will continue to grow, and it’s critical that we get shovels in the ground today to start building homes for the workers of tomorrow.

Our government’s housing supply action plans have made great progress in addressing our province’s housing crisis so far, but there’s still more to be done. As the minister mentioned earlier, and the associate minister, we had our housing forum yesterday, and it was wonderful to see, as the associate minister mentioned yesterday, the cross-pollination between the variety of stakeholders there, whether it was municipal partners; whether it was the non-profit, Habitat for Humanity; whether it was homebuilders. It was good to see those ideas and work with our colleagues, as I know the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing will continue to do as we move forward with future housing supply action plans.

The changes and measures proposed through the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act are forward-thinking, and I’m proud in part of this government that is taking historic action to increase housing supply and help communities meet their housing needs today and well into the future.

To complement the legislative proposals in the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act, our government will also be consulting on other changes that can be made to help get more affordable homes built in Ontario and increase municipal efficiencies. We’re committed to working closely with our municipal partners to ensure the right tools and processes are in place so that we’re able to build at least 1.5 million new homes by 2031.

Our government will be consulting on proposed regulatory changes as part of the ongoing strategy to streamline hearings and speed up decisions at the Ontario Land Tribunal. Helping to resolve land use planning disputes faster will help municipalities to be able to build priority projects faster, including housing. Supply Ontario will also be engaging and working with municipalities to look at ways to increase procurement collaboration with municipalities to allow cost savings and efficiencies by both levels of government.

Speaker, I know it was announced earlier this year that our province will be freezing fees for building homes and other related infrastructure at 2023 levels and ensuring that we are also doing our part to ensure that we keep costs down for our homebuilders and our municipalities as they help us reach that goal of 1.5 million homes.

To support building more homes, our government will also be asking for feedback on proposed regulatory changes aimed at streamlining hearings and expediting decisions at the Ontario Land Tribunal. The Ontario Land Tribunal, or, as it’s commonly known, the OLT, is an independent adjudicative tribunal and an important piece of the municipal planning and housing framework here in Ontario. When people are unable to resolve their differences on land use planning issues or having disputes with their municipal council that can’t be settled, the OLT provides a forum to resolve those disputes. Improving the processes at the OLT and helping to resolve land use disputes faster will help minimize delays and help us get priority projects built faster for communities across the province, and this obviously includes homes.

Too many people in Ontario are struggling to find an affordable home, and this proposal supports our government’s efforts to provide more certainty for municipalities and make it cheaper and easier to build affordable homes across the province.

To further streamline hearings and speed up decisions at the OLT, Ontario is consulting on and developing proposed regulations to set service standards and to prioritize resolutions of certain cases, including cases that would create the most housing. Consultations will begin in early December. This contributes to the broader goal of supporting strong, healthy communities and the public interest.

It also expands on the important work that is already under way to improve processes. Ontario has made investments to help the OLT to streamline processes, improve customer service and resolve land use planning disputes more quickly. Some of these investments were made to address a key recommendation in the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force report to increase resources at the OLT so that homes can be built faster. We know that principled and timely resolutions play an important role in the province’s housing supply. We will not let red tape and long wait times delay critical projects in our communities, including much-needed housing.

We will also be engaging and working with municipalities to ensure that they can benefit from provincial supply chain programs and strategies led by Supply Ontario. This includes having access to category management and vendor-of-record arrangements, which combine Ontario’s purchasing power to obtain better value for procurements. Supply Ontario is a crown agency supporting procurement across the Ontario public service and the broader public sector. It works to bring cohesion to the public sector supply chain by embracing innovation and leveraging diverse partnerships and relationships with suppliers. This can help harness Ontario’s buying power to enable economic development, province-wide resilience and, most importantly, value for Ontarians.

Speaker, the proposed changes in the Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act are what our province needs as we take the next steps to address our housing supply crisis and ensure our communities are set up to meet future housing demand. Our proposed measures will help support building more affordable homes in Ontario while also supporting municipalities as they work to attract and create good jobs.

Yesterday, at our housing forum, one common theme emerged, which is great to see from our government. All the stakeholders in the room agreed that we need to get more homes built in Ontario, including across the continuum, whether that’s support for homelessness prevention; whether that’s affordable homes, as we’re talking about this morning; whether that’s attainable and also, obviously, townhomes and apartments. It’s wonderful to see this collaboration amongst a variety of stakeholders across Ontario to ensure that Ontario remains a great place to live, work and raise a family.

With that, Speaker, thank you.

The member for Perth–Wellington.

The housing industry in this province was invited: mayors and wardens; we had not-for-profits; we had people that develop homes; the modular home sector; community home builders. Everyone and anyone who can help get shovels in the ground and do it faster was invited. Close to 300 people were there, including staff, but I would say of stakeholders themselves, it was 200-plus.

We had great meetings. We had great interaction. We talked about scale and speed. It was a wonderful event. We look forward to sharing the results in the coming days and weeks.

Thank you very much for the question.

As the member knows, that is not part of this bill.

I will say that the minister, Minister Rickford, is undertaking discussions led by not only Minister Rickford but spearheaded, really, by Chief Maracle of the Mohawks of Bay of Quinte with respect to housing on reserves. We understand that, obviously, this is an area of federal jurisdiction, but I think at the same time, there is a role for the province to play and that is why the minister is working closely with Chief Maracle to undertake a tripartite discussion on how we can improve housing on reserves across the province of Ontario.

I’m hearing about housing forum this and housing forum that, and I think it’s fabulous; I actually have FOMO.

I wonder if you can tell me who was invited to the party, what kind of feedback you got, and when we will be briefed on it—because I’m here with all ears.

I really enjoyed the opening hour-long debate from the two ministers and the parliamentary assistant and I’m so pleased to see that our government continues to take the housing supply crisis very, very seriously. The reality is, Speaker, that too many families across the province are struggling to find a home that meets their needs and their budget, and if we don’t take decisive action now, a generation of Ontarians will never have the same opportunity for stability, and the dream of home ownership will slip further and further out of reach.

I was wondering if either of the ministers or the parliamentary assistant could elaborate on why the government is moving on Ontario’s housing supply crisis so quickly and introducing yet another piece of legislation.

Thank you to my colleague for the question.

Other than to keep the PA busy, I think this bill, obviously, as was mentioned in all of our remarks this morning, really was feedback from municipalities on getting affordable homes built and providing that definition. But it really is getting more homes built, and that includes a variety—the life lease community was at the housing forum yesterday as well—and ensuring that we have a variety of options for young people, for seniors, for families to get into the housing market in communities across Ontario.

Obviously, I represent a rural riding, and I tell my communities, “It’s not just housing for Toronto. We’re looking at housing in Harriston, in Listowel, in Stratford.”

Speaker, I know this government will use everything in our power to help support our homebuilders and our municipalities to get homes built quickly.

But then also, which I always go back to, after the recent announcement in March of this year, I believe, around Volkswagen, I was at a community event in my riding, which is close to St. Thomas obviously, and one of the car dealers told me this is great news for our region because they’re going to sell those cars that we make in St. Thomas at their dealership. Across the entire supply chain, from the beginning to the end, it will be of benefit across Ontario.

Meegwetch, Speaker. Good morning. Remarks in Anishininiimowin.

It’s always an honour to be able to listen about the government’s plan—especially on this Bill 134, Affordable Homes and Good Jobs Act.

In the Far North of Ontario, we have the communities I represent, the reserves I represent. There are 31 First Nations, but there are also 24 fly-in First Nations. There’s a housing crisis happening, and it filters down to the northern municipalities. I know that, for example, in Sioux Lookout, there is a 6,000-person population and there’s a real need for housing, and I’m not sure what the plan is for Sioux Lookout to be able to address the housing crisis.

I’m just wondering if this government would start looking at maybe creating an urban reserve where you give back the land to the people, the land that was taken away long before. Because we’ve got to be part of the solution. We have to be part of the economic spin-off. So, urban reserve—what are your thoughts?

This question is for the PA.

In his presentation, he talked about the initiative to build the Volkswagen Group and PowerCo SE’s facility. As an EV driver, I’m very interested in when the government is proposing the legislative changes that, if passed, would support Volkswagen Group and PowerCo SE’s historic investment to build an electric vehicle battery cell manufacturing facility in the city of St. Thomas. Can the PA share with the House what the benefit is of this initiative to Ontarians?

Thank you for the presentation on Bill 134.

I have a question about the government’s proposed plan to upzone and increase density near transit stations, and also allow municipalities to move forward with inclusionary zoning. It’s a measure that was introduced in Bill 23; it will be affected by this bill. Cities have been waiting for upwards of two years for these proposals to be permitted by the provincial government.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. When are you looking at approving inclusionary zoning laws?

There are two excellent housing projects, Suomi Koti and Giwaa on Court, that have been unable to access the support they need to get shovels in the ground, although they have been shovel-ready for at least two years.

My question is, will the member from Thunder Bay–Atikokan use his position as a government member and parliamentary assistant to the Minister for Northern Development to make sure that these projects get the information and resources they need to finally get built?

During a housing crisis, it’s really unacceptable that these projects have been stalled for so long.

My understanding is that they actually have not applied for funding, but having said that—what we’re debating today is a very clear and very concise bill with respect to a definition of affordability. It is a bill about improving the OLT, Ontario Land Tribunal. It’s about supply in Ontario and it’s about economic development in St. Thomas. Should the member opposite wish to speak about issues that are not relevant to this bill, I invite the member to do so at the appropriate time.

Right now, we’re dealing with something that I think is very important to many different communities, including communities in the north, and that is the definition of affordable housing which takes into account the differences from community to community, both market conditions and income conditions in that community. So I’d really like to hear the member’s thoughts on the bill that’s before the House.

I’d like to ask my question to the associate minister. One of the constant issues that I hear from my constituents is, indeed, that there is a worry about the provision of housing. Parents are worried their children will not have the same opportunities. They’re priced out of the housing market and their local school closed due to lack of families in the neighbourhood, so unable to find a dream home, unable to have the life that their parents had growing up.

I’m wondering if the minister might be able to explain how this proposed legislation will help Ontarians find a home that meets their needs and budgets and brings the dream of home ownership back into reach.

A recent report by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis found that the burden of government fees on housing “has significantly increased and now accounts for 31% of the purchase price of a new home in Ontario.” That’s why we’ve tabled this legislation.