I’m pleased to welcome Krupesh Shah, a member of the Brantford Police Services Board. Welcome to the Ontario Legislature.

Thank you to the member for the question. Funny that she’s speaking about the business case but yesterday she was calling it a “shell game” and a “scam.” There is no scam here. We made the business case public, and the numbers are very clear that we would be saving $257 million over a 50-year period and up to $600 million in tomorrow’s dollars over a 50-year period.

Now, I know what the Leader of the Opposition is doing. She doesn’t want children to have a science centre for the next 50 years. That is what she is saying, because she’s not thinking about the long-term sustainability of that facility.

Mr. Speaker, the evidence was clear yesterday. I was super happy to share it with the public. And I’m sorry, but they have nothing to say.

But let’s talk about the size of the science centre: 18% of the size of the science centre is actually used for exhibits today. The new facility, although smaller in size, more energy-efficient, would actually be more sustainable and will have 10,000 more square feet of exhibition space for the children to enjoy.

Interjections.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce four wonderful people that I met with this morning, as well as their cohorts: Jazzlyn Abbott from McMaster University; Alyssa Hall, from BUSU, Brock University—woo hoo!—and Carleigh Charlton, BUSU, Brock University; and Victoria Mills, Queen’s University.

Welcome to your House. It was a pleasure meeting you.

Once again I’d like to welcome Michau van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition. Welcome back to Queen’s Park, Michau.

I’d like to welcome again both Jonathan and Gabriel from Well Grounded Real Estate to the House today. Welcome to your House.

I’m delighted to introduce, Dr. T. Varatharajah, subject of the biography Untold Truth of Tamil Genocide, and the author, Raji Patterson.

In the last stages of the war in Sri Lanka, in 2009, Dr. Varatharajah continued to show compassion and humanity by upholding his Hippocratic oath in unimaginable conditions, even as tens of thousands of people were killed around him.

I encourage all the members to come to boardroom 432 after question period to hear his incredible story.

Welcome to the Legislature of Ontario, Dr. Varatharajah.

I’m proud to introduce and welcome Vivian Chiem, Julian Mollot-Hill, Angelique Dack and Zarreen Brown from the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. Thank you very much for a productive and interesting meeting this morning.

I beg to inform the House that, pursuant to standing order 9(h), the Clerk has received written notice from the government House leader indicating that a temporary change in the weekly meeting schedule of the House is required, and therefore the House shall commence at 9 a.m. on Monday, December 4, 2023, for the proceeding of orders of the day.

It is now time for oral questions.

The final supplementary.

Good morning, Speaker. Yesterday, the government finally released its business case for relocating the Ontario Science Centre to Ontario Place, finally, after they tried to hide it for so long. It showed that the cost of building a new science centre at Ontario Place would be double the cost of repairing the existing science centre. All the so-called savings come from the lower cost of operating a half-sized science centre over 50 years.

So, my question is for the Premier. Why would this Premier force the people of Ontario to pay twice as much for a science centre that’s half the size?

Let’s talk about kids. Let’s talk about children. Schools from across the province visit the science centre. Kids and families learn about science and the world around us. The government is slicing it in half and reducing its capacity, planning to fire science centre staff—that’s how they’re going to find savings—and making it harder for kids to actually go there.

Back to the Premier: At a time when we need people to go into the sciences, why is this government making it even harder?

I would like to welcome Jordan Vecchio, who is from my constituency office, here, and Andrew Green, who used to work in this building for the former member from Don Valley East.

I would especially like to welcome my long-suffering wife, Linda. She is here today.

Interjections.

Speaker, I’ll tell you, the legacy of disrepair is on this government and the previous government.

But I will give them some advice for free here: They can save $650 million right now by cancelling the public subsidy for their luxury spa. How about that?

The Ontario Science Centre is a crucial cultural and educational hub as well as an employer for people in East York, including in the Thorncliffe Park and Flemingdon Park neighbourhoods. Instead of making the necessary repairs, the Premier wants to spend twice as much to build a new science centre that’s half the size and located an hour farther away for anybody who doesn’t already live in downtown Toronto.

So, to the Premier: Why won’t the Premier listen to the people of Thorncliffe Park, Flemingdon Park and many other communities served by the science centre and keep it where it is?

To the Premier: Why is this luxury spa so important to him that he is rewriting the laws of the province of Ontario to make it happen?

Interjections.

Speaker, to the Premier: What does it tell Ontarians about this government’s secret 95-year-long deal that they have to rewrite the laws to protect themselves?

Here’s another thing that Bill 154 does: It would give another minister, the Minister of Infrastructure, the power to issue MZOs. I asked the Premier yesterday why he would do this, and he answered, “Why wouldn’t we?” Well, I’ll tell you why they shouldn’t. They’re under a criminal investigation already by the RCMP and the Auditor General for abusing MZOs to benefit their insider friends.

To the Premier: Is this government expanding MZO powers to make it easier to grease the wheels for more of their insiders?

You know who our insiders are, Mr. Speaker? Olivia Chow, the most powerful NDP leader in the province of Ontario. That’s who our insiders are, all right? That’s who our insiders are. This is a caucus that is going to vote against somebody who sat in their caucus, an NDP leader, mayor of the city of Toronto.

You know what this deal does? The deal ensures that there is housing in the city of Toronto. The deal, supported by the mayor of Toronto, brings back Ontario Place. Yes, it saves the science centre. Yes, Mr. Speaker, but it also provides transit and transportation for the city of Toronto. That is why the city of Toronto, led by Mayor Olivia Chow, are supporting this deal. She was in this place, not two days ago, touting the importance of this deal. The only one who is against this deal is the NDP Leader of the Opposition. And why is she against it? Because they are against everything. There is nothing that they want. This is a radical NDP, a weakened NDP leader—she should take the advice of the mayor of the city of Toronto and support this deal for the people of Toronto.

Interjections.

How can you, in one breath, say, “We want you to do more of what you’re just doing in Toronto,” but in the other breath, lead question period with, “We don’t like the deal; we’re voting against it”? The member for. St. Paul’s, in her member’s statement, said she would be voting against the very same bill that the mayor of the city of Toronto is in favour of—

Interjections.

To hear the NDP stand in their place now and ask us to continue doing the job we’ve been doing for five years—and they have voted against it every single time. We’re bringing back roads; we’re building roads. We’re making them safer. That member votes against it. His own caucus has just said they are going to vote against the bill, a bill that we are bringing forward to improve transit and transportation in the city of Toronto, to create thousands of jobs for the people of Toronto.

I tell you what we will do: We will continue to reach out to our municipal partners. We’ll continue to make those investments to improve roads not only in southern Ontario but in northern Ontario, bring back the Northlander, expand Highway 401, make our roads safer, improved bridges, and bring jobs, hope and opportunity back to what you called a “wasteland” with the support of the Liberals.

We must be talking about a different bill because that bill just says “discussions” about highways. And while you’re discussing the Gardiner and the Don Valley, how about discussing Highway 11, which you already have control of, on which people play chicken with transports every day—transports passing each other on double lines, people being pushed in the ditch—and the Trans-Canada Highway.

How about discussing with municipalities like Timmins, like Temiskaming Shores, like Iroquois Falls, about the highways that you downloaded to them? How about discussing uploading them so they can pay for social services, so they can pay for subsidized housing? How about doing that?

Mr. Speaker, there’s the Leader of the Opposition talking about Therme again. She is obsessed; that is all she cares about. She doesn’t care about revitalizing Ontario Place and bringing it back to life, making sure that we improve the site.

But, Mr. Speaker, let’s talk about what she would like to do. Okay, fine. So let’s provide millions more dollars to the existing science centre facility. Let’s do that this year. You know what? Let’s do that next year. Then let’s do that the year after and then let’s face a systemic failure, structural failure, and then be forced to decommission the building. I don’t think that is the responsible move. I don’t think that’s the responsible move for the hard-working people at the science centre.

What we’re doing is ensuring that Ontarians have a science centre for the future, for the next 50 years, and we are being fiscally prudent.

But I would like to ask the member opposite why is she so against fixing Ontario Place? Why does she want Ontario Place to continue to deteriorate, to continue to flood, to continue to flood to the degree where Live Nation actually had to cancel their concerts in 2017? How is that acceptable? Can you answer that question for the people of Ontario? Because I would like to hear it.

The same circumstances exist at Ontario Place. We have someone that is willing to invest in the site in terms of hundreds of millions of dollars, operate a facility that families can enjoy, a wellness and water park facility, and contribute to the annual maintenance of the site so that we can have a well-maintained Ontario Place.

Mr. Speaker, again, I ask the member across the floor, why is she so against bringing Ontario Place back to life and saving the science centre?

Minister of Infrastructure.

Start the clock. The next question.

The supplementary question? The member for Timiskaming–Cochrane.

Au premier ministre : dans le Nord, nous avons déjà eu deux fermetures de l’autoroute 11 à cause des tempêtes de neige. Les municipalités du Nord ont déjà commencé à entretenir la route avant même la première neige à Toronto.

Le gouvernement a fait une entente pour remettre dans les mains de la province l’entretien de la Gardiner Expressway et de la Don Valley. Ma question pour le premier ministre : allez-vous signer les mêmes ententes avec les municipalités du Nord?

We all know that when we make access easier, we get results. We get results by lowering the demand in the rest of our health care system. There is an inequity right now for women who cannot gain access to contraception. We have an opportunity in a few minutes, as legislators, to change all of that, to make sure that every woman in Ontario who needs contraception will be covered and will be getting contraception through our health care system.

Why is it that, after discussion, after reading hundreds of letters from women who need this to happen, we are still debating this issue? This is a non-issue, Speaker. This is a service that needs to be covered by the government, end of story. Will the members of the Conservative Party stand up for women’s rights and vote in favour of that motion?

My question is for the Minister of Northern Development and Minister of Indigenous Affairs. Municipalities across Ontario, especially in rural, remote and northern communities, face unprecedented economic challenges due to unforeseen additional costs arising from the carbon tax. Increasing cost to heat buildings and rising fuel costs for front-line municipal vehicles create economic and budgetary challenges for our municipal partners. This is especially true for northern municipalities and Indigenous communities who feel the effects of the federal carbon tax more significantly than other municipalities.

While the NDP tries to confuse everyone as to where they stand on this punitive and regressive tax, our government’s position has always been clear: It’s time to scrap the carbon tax. Can the minister please explain how the carbon tax negatively impacts northern municipalities and Indigenous communities?

It is difficult to understand why the independent Liberals and the opposition NDP continue to disrespect the north by supporting the federal government’s imposition of this regressive tax. Can the minister please elaborate on how the carbon tax is making life more expensive and more costly for northern Ontario?

The federal government made the pitch to the municipalities that this carbon tax would have a net benefit for them, and opposition members here in this place have rallied around that thought. But let’s test that theory for a second.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, 10% of tax revenues are used to fund environmental projects for small businesses, municipalities, hospital, schools and Indigenous communities. Wow. Meanwhile many municipalities have seen significant increases in their operating expenses because of the carbon tax. In Kenora–Rainy River, the local district services board tells us that their fuel costs have doubled since 2020.

Even in the NDP-governed British Columbia, we’re seeing strong opposition by the municipalities to this regressive tax. Fort St. John said it best. They said a carbon tax on home heating and everything else is an unfair financial burden for residents in northern cities in their province. We agree. Let’s scrap that tax.

The Canadian Energy Centre reports that the forestry and logging sector in Ontario alone will see a cost increase of 5%. Now, a lot of those trees create board foot. That board foot goes to build homes, which we badly need. So we can see those costs being buried in the very things that we’re trying to build for Ontario in the midst of a housing crisis. The same study suggests that the carbon tax will result in a 4.4% increase in the cost of creating legacy infrastructure for mining operations and those mining operations. That’s not helpful when we’re trying to develop critical minerals to transform a green economy and incredible opportunity for Ontarians. Let’s just scrap the tax.