I’d like to welcome Sudburians from the Citizens’ Climate Lobby: Cathy Orlando, Claire Orlando, Maggie Fu and Sophia Mathur.

Maggie now lives in Toronto, Speaker, but she reminded me that when I was there, her and her father became Canadian citizens. It’s very special to me that she’s here today.

I’d like to welcome two guests from Haliburton-Norfolk, Laurie Burroughs and Jeff Muller. Welcome to your House.

I would like to welcome Tanya Baker, who is here from Thunder Bay, representing AdvantAge Ontario.

I would also like to welcome, from OPSEU: Noah Freedman, Simon Chateauvert, JP Hornick, RM Kennedy and Simran Ghuman, who are all here to represent the interests of forest firefighters.

I’d like to introduce Ontario Genomics, with us here today in the gallery. I’d also like to invite my colleagues to attend their lunchtime reception taking place in room 228 right after question period. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

This being the first sitting Monday of the month, this morning we have with us in the public gallery the Rehoboth Christian School choir from the riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook to perform O Canada and God Save the King. Please stand and join them in the singing of our national and royal anthems.

Singing of the national anthem / Chant de l’hymne national.

Singing of the royal anthem / Chant de l’hymne royal.

Applause.

My understanding, of course, is that the chief of staff has reached out to the Integrity Commissioner to highlight the fact that there is actually no inconsistency with the testimony.

This question is for the Premier. During the Integrity Commissioner’s investigation into the greenbelt grab, the Premier’s chief of staff, Patrick Sackville, said under oath that he did not discuss removal criteria with anyone until October 27, 2022. But late last year, we in the NDP obtained an email sent from the personal account of Ryan Amato to the personal account of Mr. Sackville, discussing the removals and dated October 17, 10 days earlier.

To the Premier: Can the Premier explain this 10-day discrepancy in the testimony of his chief of staff to the Integrity Commissioner?

This email was sent on the same day as a dramatic meeting between ministry staffers and the Premier’s housing policy adviser, Jae Truesdell. You might recall that was called a “train wreck of a meeting.” Mr. Truesdell was learning about the greenbelt scheme for the first time and, evidently, what he heard alarmed him. Mr. Amato said Mr. Truesdell didn’t know about the greenbelt scheme because he was told to “leave him in the dark.” According to the Integrity Commissioner, Mr. Amato identified Mr. Sackville as the “decision-maker in the Premier’s office for this project.”

Back to the Premier: Why did the Premier’s chief of staff tell Mr. Amato to leave his own housing policy adviser in the dark?

So I want to go back to the Premier again: In addition to Mr. Sackville, how many other officials in the Premier’s office discussed the greenbelt scheme earlier than what they told the Integrity Commissioner?

This question is for the Premier as well. This government was warned by the Auditor General back in 2021 that an overreliance on international student tuition was going to put our post-secondary education sector in a very untenable financial position. There was a steady stream of warnings coming from colleges and universities, from the government’s own expert panel, from us in the opposition, about the serious financial risk they were facing because of a lack of funding. The Minister of Colleges and Universities has claimed she wasn’t even aware a cap on international students was coming. It defies belief.

Back to the Premier: Was the minister asleep at the wheel here, or did she look the other way while private career colleges massively exploited the International Student Program?

Interjections.

I want to start with the acknowledgement that only those that would always be political expect others to always be political, Mr. Speaker.

It’s my obligation to make recommendations to the cabinet to appoint judges. I take that responsibility seriously and, obviously, I want advice from those that I respect. The advisory committee provides the advice. It has more than two members on it; in fact, it has three judges on the committee. So I don’t know if the member opposite is maligning all of the members of the committee or just the ones that she doesn’t agree with, which kind of is ironic given that she doesn’t want their advice and she doesn’t think we should have it.

I take the committee’s collective advice, Mr. Speaker, and these “Liberals in sandals” over here are no different than these Liberals over here in that they want to appoint advisers for me. Shocking that a Conservative government wants to hear from Conservative voices. As Brian Lilley said, they’re only upset because they think they should still get to make the decisions.

Interjections.

I can tell you that this government takes judicial appointments seriously. We have appointed 100 judicial positions, Mr. Speaker, and I would take exception if they could even point to one that isn’t qualified. We have a committee that’s been in place since 1985. It’s been populated with volunteers and judges ever since. We have a gold standard of appointments of judges, and that standard has continued. Only because the Toronto Star wrote a story are the NDP now paying attention. I am happy to go through every single one of the judicial appointments, and you will see that they are, in fact, qualified.

Mr. Speaker, you would think a government in waiting would have a little better understanding of how the system works—but I’m afraid we don’t. So we will continue with the—

I will remind the minister that, under their watch, one university went bankrupt and now nearly half of our universities are reporting multi-million dollar deficits—under this government’s watch.

Speaker, the minister and this government knew exactly what they were doing by undermining the public colleges and universities to open the door to for-profit diploma mills. That’s what they were doing. Last week, we learned that those same colleges were making major donations to the minister’s re-election campaign.

So back to the Premier: Is this yet another case of wealthy donors and insiders shopping for policy changes behind closed doors?

Interjections.

It’s students and families who are paying a huge price for this government’s failure. They’re relying on food banks. They’re juggling multiple jobs just to make rent. I’ve talked to families who are seriously questioning whether they can send their child to college. But instead of bringing forward the funding, the minister responsible was busy funding her own campaign, bringing in over $24,000 in a single night from directors and executives of those very same private colleges.

So, Speaker, back to the Premier again: Will there be any consequences for this minister, or does he approve of this return to Liberal-style cash-for-access fundraising in Ontario?

Order.

The Minister of Colleges and Universities to reply.

The Minister of Colleges and Universities.

And to reply, the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

To respond, the Attorney General.

Supplementary question?

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Thank you to the member of the opposition for that question. And that is correct: Quite frankly, we are very disappointed in the federal decision that was made, a unilateral decision without consultation with the provinces or any of the post-secondary institutions. We are working very closely with our institutions right now.

But I can tell you, this is going to be an economic hit across not only Ontario, but across Canada. That’s what we were hearing from many different organizations. I talked to the tourism association during the ROMA conference and heard from them directly the impact that they foresee happening in the hospitality and tourism industry in Ontario.

As I have said, the Premier and the Prime Minister signed a historic health care deal. We need to ensure that we have enough PSWs to fill those spaces for the Minister of Long-Term Care, and enough nurses in this province for the Ministry of Health. We are going to continue working very closely with our partners, and we will have more to say by the March 31 deadline.

I’ve heard extreme dissatisfaction from many institutions—but more importantly, the economic impact this is going to have on Canada and Ontario. The Minister of Economic Development is bringing new companies here to Ontario every single week, and guess one of the reasons they come here? It’s because of the talented pipeline of students that we have in this province.

I will continue to work with our institutions and we will be addressing this by the March 31 deadline.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier announced an additional tuition freeze moving forward for students. I want to ensure affordability for students. There’s an affordability crisis in Ontario and across Canada right now: the cost of housing, the cost of food and the cost of gas. But what this government is doing is ensuring that post-secondary education is affordable for all students in this province.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Under the leadership of the previous Liberal government, we saw Ontario garner a reputation as an extremely high-cost jurisdiction. Companies that had set up shop left in droves and international businesses overlooked Ontario as a potential jurisdiction in which to expand and grow and add jobs.

But since taking office, our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has recognized the importance of building a resilient manufacturing sector and we’ve made sure that these jobs are being created in every corner of this province.

Speaker, could the minister provide an update to the House on some of the manufacturing investments we welcomed in Niagara since the beginning of the year?

Thank you to the member from Richmond Hill for that question.

Mr. Speaker, let me be crystal clear. No government is doing more for transit riders than under the leadership of Premier Ford. We are making public transit more accessible and affordable than ever before. Our $70-billion transit plan—we are building transit all across Ontario. Starting today, our new one-fare program will put more money back into people’s pockets. Double fares are now gone. On average, this is a savings of $1,600 every year. Liberals couldn’t do it, but under Premier Ford, we got it done.

Starting today, as I said, commuters can simply use the same card to tap to transfer from one transit agency to another transit agency. That’s going to save them more money so they can save their money towards their future, their children or for their most important things, like groceries.

We are the only party that is working to eliminate barriers and make life more affordable, under the leadership of Premier Doug Ford.

To the Premier: In December, the Ontario Energy Board decided to protect Enbridge Gas customers from unreasonable rate increases for new gas line installation. We’re talking about $300 per customer over the next four years. The next day, the Premier’s Minister of Energy said he would bring in a bill to overturn the decision and crank up the gas bills.

Will the Premier protect gas customers from higher Enbridge charges?

Since day one, we’ve been focused on ensuring that we have a reliable, affordable, clean energy system in this province. It’s remarkable for me, Mr. Speaker, to hear the energy critic from the NDP now standing up and championing gas in our province when at every opportunity he has slammed the use of natural gas—not just slammed the use of natural gas, but he’s also slammed our nuclear sector.

What we have done by introducing the bill last week—and we’ll debate it at second reading today, Mr. Speaker—is ensure that there’s at least one party in this Legislature that’s standing up for homeowners and new homeowners and energy customers, and that is Premier Ford and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. They can be beholden to the environmental groups; they can be beholden to those who are ideological. We are not going to do that. We’re going to stand up for the people of Ontario.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, there’s one party in this Legislature that is standing up for those who want to enter the home market. They want to buy a home in this province. That’s this party. The Ontario Energy Board’s decision from just before Christmas would have driven up the price of a home by, at minimum, $4,400. Our party won’t stand for that. But in parts of rural Ontario, it was going to drive up the cost by tens of thousands of dollars a year.

We are in a housing crisis in this province. Every time our party brings forward plans, like the housing supply action plan, it’s the NDP that stands up against it, Mr. Speaker, and this is the latest example of the NDP and the Liberals and the Greens standing up against the ability for people to buy a home in our province. We are going to stand with those who want to get into housing, Mr. Speaker, and make sure we’re keeping shovels in the ground in Ontario.

Thank you.

The next question.

Restart the clock. The supplementary question?

My question is to the Associate Minister of Transportation. Many people living in my riding of Richmond Hill and across the GTA rely on public transit as their primary form of travel. Their experience using public transit should be convenient and affordable. However, many of my constituents have voiced concerns over steep transit costs.

Speaker, life is expensive, and hard-working individuals and families across our province are saying that it’s very hard for them. Our government must continue to keep costs down for transit riders and deliver the financial relief that they deserve.

Can the associate minister tell the House how our government is removing barriers to ridership and making Ontarians’ travel more affordable?

With affordability being a top priority for everyone in Ontario, it’s surprising that the NDP and the independent Liberals voted against this program. They voted against saving transit riders $1,600 a year. That is shameful.

Our government will continue to ensure that our public transportation system is making it easier, faster and cheaper for people to get where they need to go.

Can the minister provide further details on how the one-fare program will make life easier for people in Ontario?

Our government recognizes just how important the manufacturing sector is in our economy. Already this year, we’ve welcomed $65 million in investment in Niagara region alone:

—Stanpac manufactures food, dairy and beverage packaging for global businesses—they invested $35 million to retool their facility in Smithville;

—AMSI, a company that designs and constructs support buildings for on-site development—they invested $20 million to construct a 67,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Beamsville;

—St. Davids Cold Storage invested $9 million to expand their cold storage facility for food and beverage manufacturers—they created a total of 46 good-paying jobs with $6.7 million in investment support from the government.

Stay tuned, Speaker. The game-changing investments are just starting.

My question is to the Premier. We know that the Premier makes sure that wealthy, well-connected friends are taken care of, whether it’s the $8.3-billion backroom deal to carve up the greenbelt; secret, sole-source contracts for Therme and Staples; ministerial zoning orders for land speculators; or, as the Premier said himself, appointments for insiders and friends.

The Premier’s latest two insider appointments are to the panel that appoints Ontario’s judges. That’s not the worst part, folks; it’s that the Premier says that their job is to appoint “like-minded” judges. I just need to know: Why does the Premier think it’s a good idea to appoint judges who think like him while his office is the subject of an RCMP criminal investigation?

Interjections.

Ontarians don’t need like-minded judges, they need fair-minded judges who apply the law in an unbiased and unpartisan way, Premier. That’s the Canadian way. We don’t elect judges. We’re not the US. Politicians don’t get to stack the courts, Premier. This is so Canadians all have trust in the judicial system. What the Premier says he wants to do, just by simply saying it, is eroding trust in the people’s courts.

Speaker, through you: Will the Premier do the right thing, rescind these two appointments and stop his interference with the independence of our courts?