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.

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?