Ontarians are relying more on food banks than ever before, yet the Premier says Ontario is 1,000 times better now than when he took office in 2018. Speaker, make that make sense.

Feed Ontario released its 2023 Who’s Hungry report on Monday. It shared concerning statistics about the reality for hundreds of thousands of Ontarians. Food banks are struggling to keep up with the continued rapid rise in demand. Between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023, over 800,00 people accessed a food bank in Ontario, visiting nearly 5.9 million times; this is an increase of 38%, and 36% over the previous year, and the largest single-year increases ever recorded by Ontario’s food bank network. In Windsor, pre-pandemic, they were serving about 300; now it’s about 1,500. The report states that two in five visitors had never visited a food bank before, an increase of 41% over the previous year. Workers are turning to food banks in greater numbers, with more than one in six visitors now citing employment as their primary source of income. Social assistance remains a significant driver of food bank use, with recipients of OW and ODSP increasing by 17% over last year. The majority of food banks are worried about meeting the need in their community, with 69% of food banks concerned about having enough food and 53% indicating that they were worried that they do not have enough funding to adequately sustain service.

Speaker, poverty is a policy choice; it’s this Conservative government’s choice. Ontarians deserve better.

This question is for the Premier. After five years of Conservative rule, life is more expensive then ever for ordinary people. From big cities to small towns, more and more people are depending on food banks to get by, even while they work full-time. This week, we learned that food bank use has increased by 36% in Ontario over the last year alone. That’s about 5.9 million visits. In the Niagara region alone, food bank use has increased by a staggering 56% driven mostly by people visiting for the first time.

Speaker, while people struggle under the weight of this cost-of-living crisis, why is the Premier’s top priority the construction of a luxury spa in downtown Toronto?

So, Speaker, I’d like to hear from the Premier: What is so special about this luxury spa that the government is literally changing the law to make it happen?

Rents are skyrocketing and we are nowhere near the one and a half million homes that we’re going to need. We’ve got a minister of housing who brought together stakeholders and municipalities this week only to refuse their request for help.

Speaker, it’s time for the Premier to get real. Why is he dragging his feet on building the housing that people need while fast-tracking a luxury spa that no one wants?

Let’s go through what’s really in Bill 154. The Conservatives are giving themselves unprecedented powers to bypass laws to force through this luxury spa development on behalf of a private company. This bill would also block lawsuits against the government for misrepresentations or misconduct and would block legal remedies for—and I’m going to quote here, Speaker—“misfeasance, bad faith, trust or fiduciary obligation.”

Why is the Premier giving his government the power to commit misfeasance and breach of trust with this Ontario Place scheme?

Interjections.

The appearance of abuse of power is so bad under this government that the current minister of housing is reviewing more than half of the MZO decisions made by his predecessor, and the Auditor General is investigating. And now the Conservatives are giving the Minister of Infrastructure the power to issue ministers’ zoning orders.

Back to the Premier,: When this government is already under multiple investigations for its abuse of planning authority, including a criminal investigation by the RCMP, why would the Premier give MZO powers to the Minister of Infrastructure?

Interjections.