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?

My question is for the Solicitor General. I rise today to address an issue that I have been hearing from my constituents in Mississauga–Erin Mills. It is clear to everyone but the federal government and the independent Liberal members that the carbon tax is negatively impacting Ontario’s economy. People in my community are concerned about the potential effects of the carbon tax on our public safety system.

Last week, we heard from the Solicitor General, who spoke about the additional costs that the carbon tax is placing on our front-line first responders. Can the Solicitor General please explain the consequences of the federal carbon tax on our province’s public safety system?

With media reports about crime and illegal activity in many areas of our province, residents in my community are concerned about the financial impact of the carbon tax on the day-to-day work of our front-line police officers. It is reasonable that people are worried about how the carbon tax is placing a strain on policing budgets. All Ontarians deserve to live safely in their communities, and they are counting on our front-line officers to respond to emergencies. Even more so, our hard-working police officers deserve support from our government as they carry out their duties.

Can the Solicitor General please elaborate on how the carbon tax is negatively impacting police services?

My question is for the Minister of Energy. We already know that the federal carbon tax is making life more unaffordable for Ontarians when it comes to home heating costs. The federal government has announced an exemption of the carbon tax on home heating oil for some Canadians, but further action for all Canadians is needed.

Heating is a necessity, but unfortunately, many Ontarians can’t afford the luxury of picking and choosing what heating fuel they can use. Because of the carbon tax, they are unfairly forced to pay additional costs to stay warm during the winter. This is unfair and not right. Can the minister please explain how our government is supporting Ontarians to reduce the costs of home heating?

Supplementary question.

My question is for the Premier. In Kitchener-Waterloo, one in 10 households struggle to afford to put food on the table—last year, it was one in 14; two years ago, it was 1 in 20. Things are not getting better in the province of Ontario—58,000 individuals in need; 4,629 households accessed a food assistance program for the first time, a 45% increase over the same quarter in 2020.

Yesterday, we received the 2023 Feed Ontario hunger report, and it was titled Why Ontarians Can’t Get Ahead. Well, isn’t that a good question, Mr. Speaker?

We all know the food bank model was fundamentally designed to respond to an emergency need, but emergencies are supposed to end. In Ontario, and KW, it is only getting worse. When will the government acknowledge this and respond to this emergency?

The people who are living in tents are not concerned about the carbon tax. They’re not concerned about the gas tax. They’re concerned about surviving in this province. Last year’s food bank use was double the increase seen in the 2008 recession—double since the last recession. This is not the future we want for our children, who now make up one in every four recipients, and families. People in Kitchener-Waterloo and across Ontario deserve so much more.

Feed Ontario has presented some really good suggestions on housing, on food insecurity, on employment. Will this government listen to the lived experiences of Ontarians and actually get back on track to working for the people we’re elected to serve?

Thank you—through you, Mr. Speaker—to the member opposite for that question. We’ve been acknowledging and we understand that many have been hurting in this province for some time. That’s why we moved early to reduce the gas tax back in the spring of 2022. Now we just are debating the fall economic statement, which extends that gas tax—so the member opposite has an opportunity to make life more affordable for the people of Kitchener and Waterloo. Not only did we do that, but we rebated the HST on purpose-built rental buildings to encourage more rental, which will help many people in this province. And of course, we didn’t stop there to encourage more housing—the water systems infrastructure fund, $200 million, so that we could build more affordable housing in this great province.

Mr. Speaker, the member opposite has an opportunity to support Bill 146 and make life more affordable for her constituents.

We also announced a historic deal with the city of Toronto which will benefit not only just Torontonians, but people in the GTA and, frankly, the whole province of Ontario. Included in that deal, of course, is to help transit, to help housing, and yes, to help homelessness and shelters for those people the member opposite is talking about.

In fact, in the budget that she didn’t vote for and her party voted against—the budget from last year—we increased the Homelessness Prevention Program by 40% for all Ontarians. Mr. Speaker, the facts are in: This is the party that supports the people of Ontario. The facts are in: That’s the party that votes against it.

The ayes are 56; the nays are 32.

The member for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell and parliamentary assistant.

The division bells rang from 1137 to 1142.

On November 23, 2023, Ms. Jones, Dufferin–Caledon, moved third reading of Bill 135, An Act to amend the Connecting Care Act, 2019 with respect to home and community care services and health governance and to make related amendments to other Acts.

On November 27, 2023, Mr. Calandra moved that the question be now put.

All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Ms. Jones, Dufferin–Caledon, has moved third reading of Bill 135, An Act to amend the Connecting Care Act, 2019 with respect to home and community care services and health governance and to make related amendments to other Acts.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard some noes.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Call in the members. This is another five-minute bell.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

The House recessed from 1147 to 1500.

Report continues in volume B.

I’d like to welcome the grandparents and the parents of our head page today. Our head page is Leo Kemeny–Wodlinger. His grandparents Marika and Robert Kemeny are here with his dad and mom, Jason Wodlinger and Gabrielle Kemeny. Thank you so much for being here today.

Speaker, the member for Burlington is absolutely right: Ontarians are struggling to heat their homes due to rising inflation.

The federal government’s tax break only targets 2.5% of Ontarians, which is absolutely not enough. Our government has launched our Clean Home Heating Initiative program, the CHHI, providing recipients with a grant of up to $4,500 to buy a standard air-source heat pump or a cold-climate air-source heat pump. This program will help save up to $280 yearly on energy bills. On top of that, it would cut their emissions by a third. This past spring, we expanded the program to help even more communities.

Obviously, the best remedy to the problem, as the member for Burlington described, would be to eliminate the carbon tax. I hope that the federal government sees how harmful and ineffective this carbon tax is.

Because of the carbon tax, households heating with natural gas see a $290 yearly increase on their energy bills, while those using propane will spend $250 more annually. Speaker, it’s ridiculous. We are talking about 70% of Ontarian households having to pay an average of $270 in increased costs due to this tax. This is a reason why we increased our rebate. I’m hoping that the federal government finally opens its eyes and joins us in reducing costs for Ontarians.

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, Londoners are facing waits for MRIs that in some cases are nearly 10 times the provincial average. Dawn from London West has waited 18 months for an MRI, well beyond the target 28 days. Tom learned in April of this year that he needs an MRI, and he finally got an appointment for February 2024—again, clearly nowhere near the 28-day target.

Without adequate health care staffing and resources, wait time targets are meaningless, and the result is 11,000 Ontarians who died while waiting on wait-lists for surgeries, MRIs and CAT scans last year. Why is this government more focused on improving profits for insider health care investors than in reducing wait times in Ontario?

I’m going to remind the member opposite that, in fact, since 2018, we have expanded the number of MRI machines that we are funding across Ontario—and that includes communities that have never had an MRI machine in their hospital before. What does that actually mean? I’ll give a very specific example: An emergency room doctor told me, when we announced the MRI for that hospital, that they would no longer have to spend literally hours trying to find access to an MRI machine and then trying to arrange transportation through the paramedic service. We’re bringing care closer to home, and it is making a difference in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, guests from the Canada-Ukraine leadership are with us today, and I want to give special recognition to Roma Dzerowicz, Denny Dzerowicz and Victor Hetmanczuk, who were with us earlier this morning. We announced that Ontario will be the first province to mandate Holodomor education. I want to thank them for their leadership.

I encourage every MPP who is with us after votes to join us—the Holodomor awareness bus is at Queen’s Park, which is very special. I’m pleased to promote this wonderful education led by the Canada-Ukraine Foundation.

Deferred vote on the motion that the question now be put on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 135, An Act to amend the Connecting Care Act, 2019 with respect to home and community care services and health governance and to make related amendments to other Acts / Projet de loi 135, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2019 pour des soins interconnectés en ce qui concerne les services de soins à domicile et en milieu communautaire et la gouvernance de la santé et apportant des modifications connexes à d’autres lois.

Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for that response. It’s reassuring to know that our government is taking the necessary steps to help Ontarians with the cost of keeping their homes warm this winter.

I’m disappointed to hear that the federal government refuses to address the problems the carbon tax is imposing on the people of Ontario.

Speaker, our government has known for years that the carbon tax is making life more unaffordable for Ontarians, and the Bank of Canada and the Parliamentary Budget Officer have confirmed our warnings about this regressive tax. The carbon tax is creating unnecessary burdens on the people of Ontario, and they’re looking for financial relief.

Can the parliamentary assistant please elaborate on how our government is making life more affordable for all Ontarians?