Let’s dig a little deeper into this special deal that this Premier seems to be so obsessed with, because there seems to be repeated preferential treatment for Therme: no fairness monitor for procurement, no scoring criteria for bids, and a half a billion public dollars to give Therme a parking garage, even though the government told other bidders they wouldn’t pay for it. And even that wasn’t enough: Now, they’re letting Therme bypass all the environmental and heritage laws.

My question to the Premier is: Why is the Premier so determined to give preferential treatment to this one private luxury spa operator?

The challenge is that I actually did not have a round table with municipalities this week on housing. I had a housing forum that included municipalities, not-for-profits, that included home builders, that included representatives from modular building. It was a round table—it was actually a forum with 300 people from across the province of Ontario who are focused on building homes, Mr. Speaker. That was what it was all about, not just the municipal sector.

We had a lot of very productive meetings, and they were focused on one thing. They said the same thing to us: “Help us get shovels in the ground by removing red tape. Remove obstacles.” And we heard time and time and time again that the federal government has to step up to the plate and help us with infrastructure, to enable housing to be built faster across the province of Ontario. So, that is what we’re up to, Mr. Speaker.

Unfortunately—it was an open forum—the NDP did not send anybody to participate in that forum. I would have thought the critic for the NDP would have been there, maybe the Leader of the Opposition, but they didn’t show up. But that is consistent. They haven’t showed up since they’ve been in this place, Mr. Speaker.

Interjections.

Let me unpack it for the member opposite: It was a public forum. Anybody could have applied to it, but in order to do that, you’ve actually got to read the public pages, and apparently the member didn’t do that.

With respect to infrastructure, in about—I don’t know—45 minutes the member opposite is going to have the ability to vote for infrastructure for our municipalities to get shovels in the ground faster. I’m hoping that the member opposite will vote for that, Mr. Speaker. We’re bringing forward a use-it-or-lose-it policy so those developers, those home builders that don’t get shovels in the ground after doing all of the work with their municipal partners will lose that allocation.

But here’s the big thing: The member opposite could call 1-613-JAGMEET and bring down the federal government if they don’t redirect that $15 billion worth of spending to put housing-enabled infrastructure in the ground. That’s what we need, Mr. Speaker.

Remarks in Anishininiimowin. Good morning. My question is to the Premier.

Speaker, the ongoing systemic gaps in both the federally and provincially funded education systems have resulted in systemic discrimination for First Nations children. The Chiefs of Ontario launched two reports on these gaps in K-to-12 schools across Ontario. The evidence in the reports confirms the need to increase supports for First Nations learners in the provincial system. I ask: What is Ontario doing to address the inequities for First Nation learners?

I do appreciate the member opposite’s question. We are committed to the success of First Nation, Métis and Inuit students. It’s why we’ve increased funding for Indigenous education. This year is a really important year because in the Truth and Recon-ciliation Commission report, they asked the government of Ontario to close the gap to ensure every child is learning residential school history. We’ve now done that this year. We’re proud to have done so. I did it with the Minister of Indigenous Affairs.

In addition, we signed a reciprocal education agreement to allow Indigenous students on- and off-reserve in order to access the schools of their choice without having to face the red tape and often months or years of delay to get into our schools. We more than doubled the Indigenous graduation coach program. I appreciate there’s more to do, and we’re going to continue to work across the government to ensure the success of these kids—they graduate, they achieve their potential, they get good jobs—and that we’re able to remove the barriers that have held them back historically in this country.

To respond on behalf of the government, the Minister of Education.

It won’t surprise the member opposite that I’m a little bit more optimistic. I’ve worked very closely with the Minister of Education. In fact, the Chiefs of Ontario’s Moving Forward: Strengthening Relationships for Future Generations Annual Report 2022-2023 says on page 21, “There’s been important work to expand Indigenous learning opportunities throughout the Ontario school system, including more responsive curriculum and new programs as well as renewed efforts to engage families and communities.”

Now, that’s coming from the Chiefs of Ontario’s annual report, Mr. Speaker, and it’s being backed up by significant investments through the Indigenous Education Grant that serves two important functions: it supports Indigenous student achievements and well-being as well as creating new areas and new opportunities for knowledge for all classrooms and all children to learn about the important contributions of Indigenous history and Indigenous culture. The Priorities and Partnerships Fund focuses squarely on performance of Indigenous students and their well-being. Mr. Speaker, we’re closing that gap.

I certainly appreciate the member’s advocacy, but I also want to remind people of what we have already done in the province of Ontario. Already in the province of Ontario, we have access to contraceptives for anyone under the age of 25. We have it for individuals who are challenged financially, to access through the Ontario Trillium drug benefit program.

These programs are put in place and have been part of our Ontario health system because we understand that we need to ensure that there is equitable access, and we need to make sure that it is targeted in a way to protect the individuals who need it most, which is why with those two programs alone, we cover 40% of the population.

The member from Brantford–Brant is right. He’s also a volunteer firefighter—and I want to say thank you—as was the member for Sarnia–Lambton, and others.

What the independent Liberal members don’t seem to get—and they’re downplaying the tax; they did it, in recent days, when we spoke about the cost of policing—is that every time you fill up a fire truck, any vehicle that’s used in firefighting, you are paying the carbon tax. When you are buying equipment and other resources that you need to keep Ontario safe, you are paying the carbon tax on those costs. The Ontario firefighters are being penalized for this carbon tax on the cost of fuel, on procurement and on operations. It’s totally unacceptable. Whether it’s about public safety and policing or fire-fighting, it’s unacceptable.

Our message to the federal—

Je suis fier de soutenir nos pompiers et tous ceux qui assurent la sécurité de l’Ontario.

My question is for the Solicitor General. It’s no secret that Ontarians are fed up with the unnecessary and useless carbon tax. It is a regressive and harmful tax that hurts everyone, including the important public services that keep our communities safe and well.

While we have heard about the negative impact that the carbon tax is having on rising costs for families and businesses, it is very concerning that firefighters in communities across Ontario are also being impacted. The carbon tax is driving up fuel and gasoline costs for everyone in our province. It is not right, and it is unacceptable that response vehicles used by firefighters should be negatively impacted by this federally imposed carbon tax.

Can the Solicitor General please explain the negative effects of the carbon tax on our front-line firefighters across Ontario?

It is vital that we provide our brave and courageous fire-fighters with the tools and the resources that they need to protect our communities, instead of paying for additional fuel costs because of the carbon tax. Can the Solicitor General please elaborate on how our government supports our front-line firefighters instead of punishing them through the regressive carbon tax?

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. Because of the federal carbon tax, life has never been so unaffordable. Northerners are already feeling the pressure at the gas pumps, where fuel costs are significantly higher than in the rest of the province. While Ontarians are struggling because of rising costs, the independent Liberals and the opposition NDP members continue to agree that the carbon tax should nearly quadruple, raising the price of everything even higher.

The carbon tax adversely affects our businesses and negatively impacts our economy and Ontario workers. Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax negatively impacts individuals and families in northern Ontario and in Indigenous communities?

Speaker, can the minister please provide further details on the adverse effects that the carbon tax is inflicting on the residents, communities and businesses throughout the north?

Speaker, we’re in an affordability crisis, yet the fall economic statement doesn’t use the word “affordability” once.

During the 2018 election, Conservatives promised to cut income tax by 20% for the middle class. That promise was never kept. The Minister of Energy even claimed last month on affordability that “our province has done everything we can.” He’s forgotten past promises. It seems the promise they have remembered is the one donors reminded them about: opening the greenbelt and gifting $8.3 billion of public value.

Tax form ON428 still has the 9.15% tax rate—promise not kept. How can Ontarians trust this government to tackle affordability when they can’t even keep or remember a basic election promise?

Can this government be trusted to tackle affordability when they wouldn’t take the opportunities to provide families with immediate pocketbook relief in their fall economic statement?

Perhaps, Speaker, you could give me—I know it’s usually a minute to respond. I’d like about 10 minutes, because there’s so much I could talk about in terms of what we’ve done for affordability that the opposition Liberals and New Democrats have voted against.

In the fall economic statement, which we’ll be voting on today, we’ve extended the gas tax for another six months to lower costs for consumers and to lower costs for businesses. Will the opposition support us? Will you support us in lobbying the federal government to stop the punitive carbon tax? Have you done it in the past?

Our government has been focused on affordability, whether it’s the carbon tax, whether it’s cutting tuition for students who are in an affordability crisis themselves or whether it’s the LIFT tax credit, which lowers the tax rate for the lowest-income individuals in this province. We have stood on the side of families and individuals in this province. Where is the opposition?

Let me just go through some of the other things that we’ve done as a province. We’ve removed the licence plate stickers for all drivers across the province, helping businesses and consumers. As the Minister of Economic Development has referred to, we’ve taken away $8 billion in costs for businesses in this province. Where are those cost savings going to go? They’re going to go to the people of Ontario. We’ve also lowered the cost of transportation in this province. Whether you’re taking the GO train or public buses in the GTA, we’ve lowered that. Did the opposition support us on that front? Absolutely not.

So, again, we continue to move ahead, get investments in this province, bring affordability to the extent that we can, and we’ll continue doing that. I hope the opposition will support us with the fall economic statement.

So again, I will remind the member opposite that it is in fact under the age of 25. Forty per cent of the population is covered. Those two programs alone are already in place in the province of Ontario.

Can we look at other opportunities to improve the system? Absolutely. That is why we are doing so many of the health system pieces that we have in place. But I also want to highlight the excellent work that the Minister of Education has been able to do in securing $10-a-day daycare for the province of Ontario.

This is not an issue that we are looking at only in one ministry. We are making sure that women empowerment—individual access is critically important, but we’re doing it in a whole-of-government approach, not one-offs.

Back to the minister: Minister, if you believe that the current policy for publicly funded contraception up to the age of 24 is effective, should that rationale not extend to those beyond the age of 24? Women’s fertility spans approximately 30 years, not nine, necessitating broader access.

Research shows a net health system cost saving of $5 per resident, underscoring the efficiency of preventive over surgical health care. The selective approach of OHIP+ risks perpetuating inequities. Given the cost neutrality, gender equity implications and bipartisan potential, will you recognize the benefits of pursuing universal contraception access, following the example set out by other provinces in Canada?

Supplementary question.

Supplementary question.

The supplementary?

I’ll tell you what: Our American friends just celebrated Thanksgiving, and that hits home for us out in Kenora–Rainy River. Just across from Fort Frances is International Falls, Minnesota. As friends and families criss-crossed the border, here’s what they found: Gas is $3.24 a gallon in International Falls. That works out to about $1.14 a litre. Back in Fort Frances, about 150 metres away, gas is $1.70 a litre.

Now, let’s pivot to what’s on the table for dinner. Turkeys: In 2015, a turkey was $1.50 a pound. In 2023, it’s north of $2.50 a pound. That’s a 67% increase.

Mr. Speaker, when you tax a farmer who grows the food, when you tax a trucker who brings it all the way out to northwestern Ontario, a 22-hour drive from Toronto, and those who buy the—

Now, Mr. Speaker, it’s time, once and for all, for the NDP to join the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and send a clear message to the coalition in the federal government to scrap this tax, plain and simple. It’s as easy as slicing bread.

Our government is implementing a new Ontario Autism Program. In the new program, families will have access to an expanded set of core services including applied behaviour analysis, speech language pathology, occupational therapy and mental health services. This is the first time that families will be able to access mental health supports through the OAP.

Families also have access to a range of services like:

—the foundational family services, which we launched in 2020 to help families support their child’s learning and development at home;

—early intervention services to help young children access services at critical points in their development;

—an early entry to school program, which will help prepare children who are starting kindergarten or grade 1 for the first time; and

—urgent response services for children and youth who have immediate urgent needs.

Speaker, we’re meeting benchmarks and making progress every day as we continue to implement a needs-based OAP that supports children and youth with autism and their families.

Children and youth with autism may also be eligible for programs such as healthy child development programs, including the Healthy Babies Healthy Children Program; the Infant and Child Development Program; the Preschool Speech and Language Program; rehabilitation services delivered by children’s treatment centre; special needs resource teachers in child care settings; the Special Services at Home program; the Assistance for Children with Severe Disabilities Program; out of home respite; and the enhanced respite for medically fragile and/or technology dependent children program.

Families who received an initial interim one-time funding payment may also be eligible to receive a second payment of either $5,500 or $22,000 based on their child’s age as of April 1.

My question is for the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. Over 60,000 children are on a wait-list to receive access to core autism services in Ontario. My office receives many calls and emails from families who have been waiting for years for answers to their questions, questions like: “Did our application get approved? How do I know where we are on the wait-list? When will my child receive services?”

Speaker, yesterday our offices received an email from your ministry liaison asking us that we refrain from contacting AccessOAP on behalf of our constituents, citing process and protocol, telling us we’re not allowed to help. Minister, why is AccessOAP denying our offices’ advocacy and making it harder for families to get answers?

Speaker, families from across the province are reaching out to all of our offices, including government members. First we’re told AccessOAP needed their own consent forms only to receive useless answers like, “We can’t tell you where you are on the list, when you’ll receive a call or even when you’ll get a case worker.” Now we are being shut out altogether. Speaker, families are desperate and this is completely unacceptable.

Minister, why are you allowing this third-party organization, that we fund, to block answers and to make sure that things are even harder for families?

Interjections.

I must admit, it’s a little surprising hearing that question from that member from Kanata-Carleton, who, in this House in the last few weeks, has said the carbon tax is good for consumers.

The carbon tax puts the cost of everything up—everything: getting to the Legislature, driving your kids to soccer, food, businesses, public transportation.

This is a government that has been committed to working on affordability since we took office in 2018. I don’t even know where to start with all the programs we’ve put in place and the cost reductions we’ve done. Let me remind the member of just a few of those things that we’ve done—and I’ll certainly talk to more of them in the supplementary.

We put through the LIFT tax credit, which was the largest low-income tax credit in the history of Canada, helping those individuals in the lowest-income tax brackets reduce their taxes.

I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

The member opposite mentioned ODSP. Just last year, we brought through legislation which moved it up by 5%, and then indexed it to inflation, to 6.5%. That’s the largest increase in ODSP’s history. Did the member opposite and the team over there support us on that legislation? No, they did not.

But that’s not all. We’ve done a lot for affordability. We increased the minimum wage this year—the largest-ever increase in recent history—to $16.55 per hour. We’ve also brought about and extended the tuition tax credit for university students. We put through a 10% cut in tuition a few years ago, and we’ve extended that freeze for four years, putting tuition among the lowest and the most affordable, in the province of Ontario.

I hope the members opposite will join us, get some sense and support the fall economic statement.