Thank you to the minister for his response and his solid work on a world-scale basis for the people in the province of Ontario. It’s great to hear about the success of our government’s regional development program.

Before we took office Ontario’s manufacturing capacity had diminished. The NDP-Liberal agenda of high taxes and unnecessary red tape pushed manufacturers out of our province and into foreign jurisdictions. As a result, our economy stagnated and we were beholden to other countries to manufacture the goods and supplies that Ontarians needed.

Now they want to try their failed experiment all over again with the ever-increased federal carbon tax. Unlike the opposition, our government must support and protect our manufacturing sector, which is it vital to our province’s economic prosperity.

Can the minister please describe how our government’s actions continue to strengthen Ontario’s manufacturing sector?

The Liberal-NDP agenda of high taxes has crushed our manufacturing sector. Some 300,000 manufacturing jobs were lost under that coalition. But we created the conditions for Ontario to become the manufacturing powerhouse that it used to be.

Now we are home to 20,000 manufacturers, employing more than 800,000 workers. This year alone, since January, we have seen 23,500 manufacturing jobs created. In fact, in one month this summer, we saw more manufacturing jobs created in Ontario than in all 50 US states combined. There’s $99 billion of manufacturing that goes on in Ontario every single year. Lower taxes and red tape reduction equals jobs.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Why is Ontario paying 330% more for surgeries in for-profit clinics than in public hospitals? The member from Eglinton–Lawrence stated, “These centres have higher costs because they’re purchasing equipment.”

Don Mills Surgical Unit, a for-profit hospital, expanded from three to six operating rooms and to seven recovery bays while our public hospital ORs sit dark and empty, against the Private Hospitals Act, which forbids expanding for-profit hospitals. Why is this government expanding private hospitals, where we pay more for less?

Speaker, the previous Minister of Health is now a lobbyist for Clearpoint, the corporation that owns Don Mills Surgical Unit. The Members’ Integrity Act prohibits former cabinet ministers from ever making representation to the provincial government. Don Mills received a 278% increase when Christine Elliott was Minister of Health. Does the Premier support the fact that his former Minister of Health is lobbying for preferential treatment for Don Mills?

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Finance. Last week, the federal government released their fall economic statement, which many would describe as disappointing. It was disappointing because it failed to end the damaging carbon tax that is hurting so many people in my riding and across the province. My constituents are rightfully asking why the federal government punishes them with this regressive tax while other provinces are exempt. The people in my riding are looking to all levels of government to step up and provide assistance during these challenging economic times. The people of Ontario want support and relief, not additional taxation that makes life more expensive. Can the minister please explain how this unnecessary tax creates economic hardship for all Ontarians?

Can the minister please elaborate on why all members of this House should advocate for Ontario by calling on the federal government to end the carbon tax?

Thank you to the great member from Whitby for that question. He’s a champion.

Interjection.

It’s a Durham day. We’ve got the mayor of Pickering here. We’ve got members from the council in Ajax. Guess what they have to do? There’s no subway in Pickering. Many people have to drive their car to work, take their kids to school, move around the great riding of Pickering. That’s why I was disappointed by the lack of action on the carbon tax by the federal government’s fall economic statement.

Like the member from Whitby, I was hoping that the Liberal government would finally come to its senses and end the carbon tax, which seems only effective in hurting the pocketbook of Ontario families.

Sadly, the Liberals’ attachment to the carbon tax seems to far outweigh their concern for the economy. While families and workers are calling for a break from this regressive tax, the federal government is ignoring their voices. So we’re asking the federal government, don’t just help Pickering; don’t just help Ontario; help all of Canada with this—

Mr. Speaker, the other part of my riding, Uxbridge—guess what? People use their cars not only to get around in Uxbridge. Guess what the farmers do? They have the tractors in Uxbridge. They use energy and power. They need a break as well, the hard-working people and farmers of Uxbridge who grow the food, and obviously the food gets shipped and then we buy the food. We need to all work on affordability in this country, and it starts with the carbon tax.

We took action by lowering the gas tax, when combined with other measures, 10 cents a litre. And when we table the fall economic statement, I’m highly confident the members opposite will vote to reduce that gas tax and join us as we work all across Canada to make life more affordable for—

Good morning, everyone—beautiful day to be in here with you.

Mr. Speaker, tell the Premier that instead of holiday bells, I am ringing the alarm bells, because the climate crisis is here and it’s costing Ontarians already. While we wait to hear about the RCMP criminal investigation into the $8.3-billion sale of the greenbelt, the government could and should read the damning report released last week by the Financial Accountability Officer of Ontario. Spoiler alert: There’s a frightening financial impact of the climate crisis on our infrastructure. If we don’t begin to proactively plan and build for the extreme weather events that are definitely coming due to climate change, it will cost an extra $4.1 billion per year.

Interjections.

My question to the Premier is, when will he wake up, smell the wildfires and declare a climate emergency in Ontario?

The FAO report clearly proves that we need to be proactive about this—no more short-term thinking. The fatal consequences of climate change are already in effect. The global mortality rate associated with extreme heat accounts for five million deaths per year. The 2021 heat wave in BC amounted to over 600 people dying. It’s only a matter of time before Ontario faces an extreme heat wave.

My question is to the Premier: Will he commit to an expansive and informative public education campaign and an extensive plan to ready our infrastructure before next summer comes blazing in with potentially deadly temperatures?

The member opposite should know that our government’s history in dealing with human-trafficking survivors and perpetrators is clear and very, very deep. When I think of the work that the member from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock has done, when I think of the legislation that we have brought forward as a government to protect and ensure that individuals who perpetrate human trafficking are brought to justice, it is our government, under Premier Ford, who has done that work.

I really think it’s important for the member to understand that we are absolutely seized to ensure that every piece of human trafficking and the survivors’ pathway to treatment is something that our government and multiple ministries have been working on for many, many years.

Interjections.

Next question.

Restart the clock. Supplementary.

My question is to the Premier. To quote the executive director of Victim Services of Durham Region, “Publicly funded prescription birth control will help empower survivors experiencing gender-based violence and human trafficking. Access to birth control is life-saving.”

Speaker, the lack of access to birth control is used by abusers and perpetrators of human sex trafficking to control their victims. Birth control is much more cost-effective than health care or even the therapy that we owe the survivors after freeing them from sex trafficking if they are pregnant.

Does this government agree that universal access to contraception will give survivors more control over their bodies and lives and help combat sex trafficking?

The member from Brantford–Brant is absolutely correct: The forestry sector is just one of the many natural resources sectors that are being punished by the carbon tax. In fact, all of our northern and rural businesses are being disproportionately impacted by that Liberal carbon tax.

Ontario’s commercial fishing sector is feeling the financial pressure too. The Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association recently told us, “One business estimates that the carbon tax is costing them $88,000 per year.” And if the federal government cared about the success of that business and the people we employ, they would cut the carbon tax.

With this regressive tax, they simply can’t compete with the American businesses fishing in the same waters. We have urged the Ontario Liberals to call on their federal counterparts to end this tax that is making everything more expensive. Let’s work together, do what’s right and build a better—

My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. Minister, the carbon tax is raising the price of everything. This regressive and harmful tax is hurting the people of Ontario by driving up the cost of goods, of services and of essential items that they need.

The minister has previously warned about how the carbon tax is increasing the cost of raw materials from the forestry sector and is raising the price of products such as sand and stone. Not only does this federally imposed carbon tax make raw materials more expensive, but it also impacts the entire supply chain, resulting in higher costs for everything and everyone.

Can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is negatively impacting industries in the natural resources sector and consumers across the province of Ontario?

Ontario is responsible for 86% of the greenhouse gas reductions for all of the country of Canada. Think about that: one-third of the population, 86%.

We have done the things that are going to make the impacts. We are leading the world in EV battery production for the electric cars. We’ve installed electric arc furnaces in our steel mills—or are installing them—which will take two million cars off the road. We’re investing in nuclear power—clean, green nuclear power. We’re on target to meet our 2030 greenhouse gas reduction goals.

We’re doing all this while building the economy and standing against the most punishing thing that people are experiencing in this province and all across Canada: the unacceptable, unfair carbon tax by your party in Ottawa.

Interjections.

But not only that; we’ve introduced an urban park in Uxbridge because people want to care about the ground. The Nature Conservancy of Canada says we’re leaders in protecting green space here in the country of Canada—the first operating provincial park in 40 years.

But all of what we’re doing on top of that—we’re giving people a break. We’ve lowered the price of gas so they can get to work or get their kids to soccer. We’ve taken away the cost of licence plate stickers. We’re doing all of those things because your party in Ottawa has got their hand in their pocket, and every time they turn around, they’re taking the carbon tax out of their pocket.

Everything is costing more because of the carbon tax. There are so many initiatives that this government and every other government could be doing if they weren’t taxing the people to death with the carbon tax.

My question is to the Solicitor General. Speaker, I often talk about auto thefts and carjackings in this House, mainly because 33 division is among the hot spots for car theft and is in my riding. Even the federal justice minister is not immune to this crime. Two government vehicles assigned to him were stolen, and only one was recovered.

Michael Rothe, president and CEO of the Canadian Finance and Leasing Association, said in an interview with Maclean’s, “We’re a very safe country in many ways. But freedom isn’t free. Solving the car theft problem will actually help solve a lot of other issues, too.”

Speaker, I welcome the news of the Preventing Auto Thefts Grant funding. Can the Solicitor General please elaborate on how the government funding will help to tackle this urgent issue?

To paraphrase Michael Rothe in the same interview with Maclean’s, US Homeland Security is much more engaged than the Canada Border Services Agency, and our borders are more porous. Canadians are so frustrated to see containers with stolen vehicles going off to other countries.

Can the Solicitor General tell this House whether a timeline has been set for all levels of government to sit down together to address this crisis? And are there any public education programs planned in the near future to inform vehicle owners about car theft prevention?

Thank you very much. Supplementary question?

Thank you for the great question. We have repeatedly asked the federal Liberals to help us by removing the carbon tax to put even more money back in the pockets of the people of Ontario.

I want to share further comments from the Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association, who said that the carbon tax “increases the cost of goods because everything is shipped,” and that “suppliers have passed their carbon tax expenses on their businesses, driving up the costs of everything.”

Our government is doing more every day to support job creators and build a stronger Ontario. That’s why our Premier and our Minister of Finance have reduced the gas tax.

Industries, small businesses, families and workers across this province are asking the members opposite to recognize these negative impacts. Speaker, Ontarians want solutions, not additional taxes. The members opposite need to stand up and call for the end of the carbon tax. Come on, scrap the tax.

History shows that if I was to do that, nobody would actually build rental housing in the province of Ontario, because when we stopped that, when we made a modification to that policy, we saw record levels of purpose-built housing across the province of Ontario.

In fact, we’ll go even a step further. It has now finally been acknowledged by the federal Liberals and NDP that when you cut taxes and when you make life more affordable for people and when you make life more affordable for those who construct rental housing, they’ll get in. When the Minister of Finance said that we have to eliminate HST on purpose-built rentals, the federal government fought us for over a year. And what happened when we finally were able to get that done, with no help from Jagmeet Singh and the socialist caucus in Ottawa? We are seeing a $45,000-per-unit reduction in the cost of purpose-built rentals. And you know who stepped up to the plate? People who build purpose-built rentals, to the tune of we are at the highest level in over 15 years. That’s actually really good news.

When the Minister of Education said we have to bring down the fee of child care, but not in a way that would hurt or put one sector against another, but in a way that would advantage all Ontarians, and then when he fought to extend that deal, the opposition NDP voted against that.

When the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services increased ODSP rates and tied it to inflation, the opposition voted against that.

When we integrated fares so that people who take transit across the GTA to get to work, to get to appointments, to get to child care, would only have one fare to pay, reducing the cost by $1,600, on average, per person, the NDP voted against it.

On affordability, this is—

I want to thank my colleague opposite for the question. There has never been a government more concerned about public safety than our government, led by Premier Ford, and we have acted. The member is correct. Last week, we announced the first sums of money that will be going as part of our $51-million investment to fight auto theft throughout our province. Mr. Speaker, it’s serious, because every few minutes, somewhere in Ontario, a car is getting stolen. It’s completely unacceptable.

That’s why I continue to call on our federal counterpart to meet me at the border, to meet me at the port of Montreal, to open the containers that are being loaded onto the ships and see for themself. That’s where our cars are going. It’s completely unacceptable. We will do everything we can to continue to keep Ontario safe.

The cost-of-living crisis is getting worse. According to a recent report from Feed Ontario, 23% of food bank clients spend 100% of their income on housing. That’s all their income on housing. Without real rent control for all tenants, people are paying a larger and larger percentage of their paycheque towards rent, leaving little for all other expenses.

Premier, will you bring back real rent control measures that not only help keep people housed, but also help keep food on the table?

Under your watch, more and more children are going hungry. What are you going to do about it?

Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for his response. It’s disheartening to see the independent Liberals and the opposition NDP members continue to support such a regressive tax that harms our northern and rural businesses while consistently voting against measures that would make life more affordable for all Ontarians.

The carbon tax has contributed to higher fuel prices, higher shipping prices and more burdensome red tape and less innovation. Industries in the natural resource sector are legacy businesses that help build Ontario. Many of these businesses are vital to sustaining northern communities and contributing to Ontario’s economic prosperity. Can the parliamentary assistant please expand on how the carbon tax is negatively impacting local businesses and our province’s economy?