Today, this morning, we are talking about Bill 162. And Bill 162 has several schedules to it, and the primary purpose, from my point of view of Bill 162, is to address, in part, the issue of affordability.

As I was just saying a moment ago, there are several governments—municipal governments, the federal government—that are raising costs on the people of Ontario. For example, the federal government has raised costs on the people of Ontario by imposing a crushing carbon tax, which escalates on a regular basis higher, higher and higher—automatically.

Many municipal governments, for example, have imposed property tax increases—increases which are locked into your home, making home ownership more expensive. This is happening across the province of Ontario. But as I said earlier, only one government—only one government—is actually getting rid of fees and lowering taxes and that is the Progressive Conservative government of the province of Ontario.

Now, let’s give a few examples of how we are lowering taxes, lowering fees and making life a little bit more affordable for people. We have introduced and then extended the 10-cent per litre reduction on the price of gasoline. That makes life more affordable when you drive to work. It makes life more affordable when you drive to school. It makes life more affordable when you drive to hockey practice, and we think that’s important. Maybe other MPPs in this House don’t think that’s important.

We removed the fee on licence plate stickers. That saves the average family $240 per year. That’s $240 per year you can put toward your savings. Maybe you wanted to buy something special for yourself or your children or maybe even contribute to their RESP. We think that $240 per year makes life a little bit better.

We removed some tolls on highways, making driving less expensive. Now, it’s more affordable to drive where you want to go. Perhaps you’re taking a day trip or a modest vacation; now, it’s a little bit more affordable for you.

We think that those are concrete and important steps toward making life more affordable for everybody. Many times, it makes the simple pleasures of life more affordable. I think we have taken a position in the PC caucus which is quite good and makes life a little better for everybody.

What else is addressed in this Bill 162 is the crushing carbon tax imposed by the federal Liberal government. In the PC caucus, we believe the carbon tax is very bad. In fact, we think it’s so bad we fought it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. That’s how bad we think it is. We got no support from any opposition party in our opposition to the carbon tax. When we fought the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, the opposition did not help.

Do you know what the Supreme Court of Canada said? The Supreme Court of Canada said that despite our submissions, the federal Liberal government, constitutionally speaking, had the authority to impose a carbon tax on Ontario. That’s what the Supreme Court of Canada said: The federal Liberal government had the right to impose that tax on Ontario.

We know the Liberals were very, very happy with that Supreme Court of Canada decision, because as we know, Liberals love taxes. Liberals think taxes cure all evils. In fact, we’ve heard it said, even in the assembly in the province of Ontario—this assembly here—we’ve heard it said by the Liberals; they think that the carbon tax makes the world more “habitable.” “Habitable” was the word that got used. A carbon tax makes the planet Earth more habitable—that was the argument put forward by the Liberals.

Madam Speaker, I thoroughly disagree with the Liberals. The carbon tax does not make the planet more habitable and never will. Now, let me tell you what does make the world more habitable. I’m going to reach back into the mists of time, way back to my ancient ancestors who were somewhere in Europe, hunting and gathering for their daily existence.

One day, one of my ancient ancestors woke up, and he said, “Today is the day. Today is the day when things change. I am not going to hunt and gather anymore. Today, I’m going to delve into the earth, dig into the dirt, and I am going to find precious things inside the Earth. Then, I’m going to take them out, and I’m going to use those precious things, and I’m going to make fascinating and important things out of them.” That ancient ancestor of mine was the first miner in my family.

Do you know what that ancestor did? I don’t know what his name was, I don’t know where he did it, but he took something out of the earth. Maybe it was copper. Then, he fashioned it into a bowl, and he gave it to his wife, and she used it to cook the meals for the family. Then, he took more copper; he fashioned it into a knife. He gave it to his son, and that son used the knife to cut wheat or to cut berries or to cut food for the family. Maybe he had more copper. He gave it to his daughter, and she used it to fashion beautiful instruments, ornaments to make things more beautiful. Those things were then fashioned and shared with others, and the whole tribe became more convenient. Everything for the tribe got better, and advances were even quadrupled after that.

My ancestor could have left that copper in the ground, but he didn’t. He took it out of the ground. He made things with it, shared it with his family, his tribe, his nation, and things got better. That is how the Earth got more habitable.

The Earth got more habitable because people took things, they mined things out of the ground, and they used human ingenuity to make life better. That’s how I say life gets better. That’s how I say the world gets more habitable, but the Liberals disagree, and I think the NDP disagree, too.

I think their opinion, among the NDP and the Liberal caucus, is that carbon taxes make life more habitable. I think that’s their theory. In fact, they’ve repeated it several times, haven’t they? They’ve done it over and over again.

Not more than 10 minutes ago, when I was speaking about freezing fees, they were saying, “How does that make life better?” It makes life better because it makes life more affordable. That’s why it makes life better.

You can ridicule the freezing of fees, but my constituents appreciate it. My constituents appreciate it when they walk into a ServiceOntario office, and the fee is the same as it was last year and the year before and the year before and they’re not being constantly nickel-and-dimed and gouged. They appreciate that, and I do too, because that’s what makes life more affordable.

The carbon tax does not make life more affordable.

Let me give you a few examples of how the carbon tax, imposed by the federal Liberal government and absolutely adored by the members of the Liberal caucus, makes life less affordable, makes things worse for people.

I’ve asked my constituents to give me examples of their heating bill, something which is absolutely necessary in everyday life—heating your home, which makes life more habitable.

The bill that I received from Meghan in my riding, a bill of $250.55, had a carbon tax of $71.86—28% carbon tax.

Here’s the bill I received from Peter, a $251 bill—$73 of carbon tax. That’s 29% carbon tax.

Here’s a bill that I received from Eric, a $277 bill—$81 of carbon tax. That’s 29% carbon tax on a heating bill.

The bill that I received from Audrey, a $203 bill—$57 of carbon tax. That’s 28% carbon tax, just to heat your home.

I ask the question, who can afford to live that way? Who can afford to heat your home when 28% and 29% of what you pay to heat your home is carbon tax? That’s not going to make life better. That’s not going to make life more affordable. That doesn’t make the Earth habitable.

I sincerely hope that the members of the Liberal caucus are listening intently to everything that I say, because I want every single one of them over there, who are listening very intently to every single word I say, to understand how bad the federal Liberal carbon tax is—having a bad effect on the families in the riding of Essex. That’s what I want them to understand.

We tested this in a vote recently, approximately two weeks ago. We tested it, and it was a vote on the carbon tax; more specifically, it was a vote to remove the carbon tax. And what happened during that vote? Every PC caucus member voted to kill the carbon tax, because that’s what we want. We want to scrap the carbon tax. That’s what we want. We make it plain and obvious. We stand up in our place and we do it.

I noticed that there was a brand new member in the House, the member from Kitchener Centre. She had barely been in the House three days—three days; a brand new member—and even that member was sufficiently educated on the issue that she stood up in her place and she let her vote be counted. Now, I don’t agree with how she voted, but I concede that she stood up in her place and she voted. She took a stand, as many members of this House did.

But what didn’t happen was—the Liberals didn’t take a stand. The Liberals bravely abstained. I use phrase “bravely abstained” facetiously. How can you not have opinions on the carbon tax? When your constituents send you here to speak on their behalf and vote on their behalf and even a brand new member votes in her place, how can you not vote? One would have thought that the Liberals would have an opinion on this topic.

That brings me to the portion of Bill 162 which is schedule 5. Schedule 5 proposes that any time a provincial government seeks to try imposing a new carbon tax, they shall be subject to schedule 5. And schedule 5 says that they have to take the issue to the voters. There’s a phrase for that; it’s called direct democracy. I think a little bit of democracy—maybe even direct democracy—is a good thing. This is a very common thing all around the world: direct democracy. I would like to know if there is anybody in this House opposed to some form of democracy.

Now I want to refer to some very thoughtful and insightful comments made by a newspaper writer. You’ll notice that I rarely quote newspaper writers in this assembly. Some people like to do that. I don’t. But I have a really great newspaper in my riding. That really great newspaper is call the Essex Free Press. Some people read other newspapers, maybe they don’t read the newspaper, but I read the Essex Free Press. It’s a great newspaper.

I don’t know who people take advice from. There are some people I think in the NDP caucus who take advice from a newspaper or an article or a journal called the Narwhal. I have never read the Narwhal. I don’t think I ever read anything written by an Arctic sea animal. I don’t think an Arctic sea animal is the kind of journal that I would read. But you know, I like to read a newspaper by somebody who lives in my riding, maybe a talented person who lives the kind of lifestyle I live, a hard-working person, down-to-earth, a person who cares about her community. She is able to speak to me and I’m able to speak to her eye to eye. We know each other. This person’s name is Sylene Argent.

I had a great conversation with Sylene Argent. Let me tell you what Sylene Argent wrote in the Essex Free Press. This is what she said, and this is very important: “I don’t want to rely on rebates. I don’t want to depend on the government for a subsidy here and there, when we can do a better job at looking at how we can reduce costs to make living essentials affordable, while also considering the environment.” That’s what Sylene Argent wrote.

I found that very interesting because I thought there was a lot of common sense in there. She is talking about how we can reduce costs, making living essentials more affordable. I say we can lower the tax on gas, and we did that, by 10 cents a litre. I say we can get rid of the fee on licence plate stickers, and we did that. I say we can get rid of tolls on highways, and we’ve done that, too. These are all ways to reduce costs and to make life more affordable on the essentials. Sylene Argent says so, and I agree with her.

Sylene says that we must also consider the environment, and I agree with her on that too.

Let me tell you about one of the most important environmental initiatives in the history of the province of Ontario. This government is helping to convert steelmaking furnaces in the province of Ontario. They’re going to be converted to electric arc furnaces. What that means is, once that’s completed, those electric arc furnaces are going to help produce steel in the province of Ontario. At the same time, it is the equivalent of removing two million automobiles off the roads of this province.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m not old enough to remember Premier Mike Harris. I’m not old enough to remember Premier Bob Rae. But of all the Premiers in the history of the province of Ontario, the one Premier who has taken the most important step to improve the environment of the province of Ontario, by removing the equivalent of two million automobiles off the roads, is the Premier we have today, Premier Doug Ford. That is correct. He is the one who has taken the single most important positive environmental step in the entire history of the province of Ontario.

I’d like to say to Sylene and to the other common-sense people in the riding of Essex, the people I represent, especially the people in the small towns—small towns like McGregor, River Canard, Cottam, St. Joachim and Woodslee—I read your newspaper, and your newspaper is for you, and this PC government has heard you. We’re going to keep costs down and try to make life more affordable for everyone, and it’s these steps that we’re taking in Bill 162 that are going to help us achieve that type of goal—a goal which will make life a little bit more habitable for you and for your family and for your children. I’d like to thank the people in those small communities, and I’d like to thank Sylene Argent of the Essex Free Press for her thoughtful words.

Thank you to the member from Sudbury for his comments today.

We all know that this House and the comments made in this House are often replete with some rhetoric and intentions. Sometimes, as the previous question just indicated, they go off in a direction of what could be, should be, possibly might be in some future bill, certainly.

But I want to give the member an opportunity to correct something. At the beginning of his speech, he said that he was arguing in favour of supporting the wildfire forest firefighters getting defined. He said that this government was silent on it, but if I may read directly from Hansard, Speaker. His seatmate asked the question, “With wildfire season anticipated to start early this year, will the government finally do the right thing and classify forest rangers as firefighters?” That was the question from your own member. The answer from Minister Piccini was, “A short answer to the member opposite: Yes.” So I guess this government isn’t silent on these matters.

I want to thank the member for your comments and your entertaining speech today. It was really, really good.

One of the things that you were talking about—you know, there’s that cycle of life. You were talking about the cycle of money and how that works, that the cycle of money is from taxpayers to special-interest groups into Conservative coffers through donations. Can you expand on that? Where are you seeing all this cycle of money so that we, as taxpayers, are putting in all kinds of money that gets diverted to these private for-profit corporations, and then back into Conservative coffers so that they can use that money to get re-elected and continue the cycle?

Today, we are debating Bill 162, the Get It Done bill.

So in the vein of getting it done, I just want to give some acknowledgement and a shout-out to some of my colleagues, my colleague from Humber River–Black Creek, my colleague from Hamilton Mountain and my colleague from Nickel Belt because, today, in the province of Ontario, is the first day that the ban on celebrities and athletes being used in gambling ads for online gaming that this government brought in with no regulations or plans around that. So, in the vein of getting it done, I would like to say to my fellow MPP colleagues, congratulations on pushing so hard along with so many vulnerable people in our communities to actually get the ban on celebrities and athletes to be enacted.

Today, I stand in the House to debate Bill 162, Get it Done Act.

I’m really very happy to speak about this bill because this act is a fulfilment of the promises we made in 2018 and 2022. We promised that we would keep costs down and build infrastructure at the same time. Our government has always been for the people of Ontario and today, once more, we are getting it done for the people of Ontario.

Madam Speaker, I want to start by thanking the Minister of Transportation for his hard work, both for introducing this bill and for being part of the largest infrastructure expansion in Ontario’s history.

From highways to transit projects, this government, under the leadership of the Premier, is getting it done, building the transportation infrastructure that Ontario needs for its long-term success. All the while, this government has continued to keep costs down for Ontarians, never raising a single tax.

When we talk about transportation infrastructure, it is very simple: People and goods need to be able to get around this province at an affordable cost. Time is money. If people are sitting in gridlock for endless hours or paying costly taxes, then we as a government have failed.

The government’s role must be to get it done and get out of the way. This is the analogy we have been using. That’s why I support this bill and why these changes to transportation infrastructure and affordability are well needed.

Madam Speaker, a major announcement for the people of Mississauga was announced earlier this month by the Minister of Transportation: Two-way, all-day GO train service is coming to the Milton line. Whereas service is currently only available during peak hours, the government plans to allow more services with extended hours of operation. For residents in Erin Mills, this means that Erindale, Streetsville, Meadowvale and Lisgar GO stations will have all-day transit connections into and out of the city.

The Milton GO rail corridor is already the fourth busiest line on the GO network. It is used daily by many Erin Mills residents.

These investments are critically needed and it’s great to see the government continuing to invest in important infrastructure such as this.

Since 1999, when I started commuting by train into Toronto, there have been minimal changes to improve the Milton line. I think we added one extra train in the morning and one extra train back in the evening. So, that’s 25 years ago. Mississauga is now significantly larger than 25 years ago—maybe 10 times the population of 25 years ago—but no investments have been made in that past 25 years on this line.

This is why we are calling on the federal government to agree to a cost-sharing partnership for this important rail corridor, which is going to benefit Mississauga and Milton as well.

The former federal Minister of Transportation has endorsed this project. I am hopeful that the federal government will now invest in this critical infrastructure to support the people of Mississauga and Milton and support the growth of Mississauga as the seventh-largest city in Canada.

North America’s largest transit infrastructure expansion is happening right here in Ontario, and that includes long-overdue investments into Mississauga. We are getting it done. Once again, I thank the Minister of Infrastructure and the Premier for this important investment.

These investments demonstrate the government’s commitment to building infrastructure. With a rapidly growing population, Ontario needs transit, highways and housing to accommodate everyone. What we build now will be relied upon by future generations to come.

That’s why this proposed Get It Done Act is focused on quickly and efficiently building infrastructure. If passed, this bill would reduce project planning timelines for construction of important infrastructure projects. It would expedite and streamline regulations that are slowing down public projects. This will allow projects like roads and sewage treatment systems to be built quickly and efficiently while still maintaining rigorous protections where necessary. By accelerating these projects, municipal governments and public agencies will be able to complete their tasks on time and within budget.

One way that this bill will, if passed, help accelerate timelines is by clarifying the procedures surrounding expropriation during the environmental assessment process. It’s already allowed under the Environmental Assessment Act to acquire properties before the EA process is completed. But by providing greater clarity, municipalities and other proponents can create clearer plans and get shovels in the ground much sooner. These are simple, common-sense steps that this government’s proposing to get developments built. It’s not flashy, but it will get the job done.

In Mississauga, we continue to make major investments into infrastructure in partnership with our municipal counterparts. For example, the new Mississauga hospital will give a much-needed replacement to the health care infrastructure in Mississauga, allowing more capacity for this growing city, the biggest hospital in Canadian history. The biggest ER room in Canada will be in Mississauga with 900-plus rooms. This is a huge investment, and as we said, time is money. We can accelerate the process getting things done. This is what we are trying to do if this bill passes.

The South Common Community Centre in my riding will also be receiving renovations very soon, allowing it to continue to be a hub for activities for our local neighbourhood. This is all part of our government’s infrastructure revolution to continue building Ontario.

Let me give you another example: Highway 413. The 413 will be built through Peel and Vaughan to bypass the busy Highway 401 in Toronto. It will save commuters time and it will get goods and people flowing. More and more people continue to come to the greater Horseshoe area to live and work. The infrastructure is needed to accommodate and handle this increased demand.

When it comes to building infrastructure, the Liberals have made their stance clear: They are opposed to building new highways and infrastructure. When the Liberal leader was mayor of Mississauga, she voted against building the 413. She said the highway would be “disastrous,” but Ontarians know the truth. The real disaster for Ontario would be Bonnie Crombie and the Ontario Liberals. They are not willing to build highways or transit or housing or any infrastructure. Our government, led by this Premier, are the only ones prepared to get it done.

Speaker, infrastructure is only half the picture. If people cannot afford to use infrastructure, then we cannot see the full benefits. That’s why we must continue to make life affordable for all Ontarians, and I’m pleased to see the government taking initiative to do that.

The One Fare program, which came into effect earlier this week, is saving commuters money when they transfer between transit agencies. Residents from Mississauga can transfer between MiWay, GO Transit, TTC and many other GTA transit organizations while only paying one fare for the trip. This adds both affordability and convenience, allowing more options for connections at cheaper costs. And this program is expected to save transit riders an average of $1,600 per year. Every single commuter will save $1,600 per year. This is not pocket change. That is substantial savings being put right back into the wallets of hard-working Ontarians.

Likewise, the government has already been working hard on saving money for drivers and vehicle owners. In the spring of 2022, the government removed licence plate renewal fees and stickers. For many vehicle owners, this has saved them over $100 per year, per person, per car. Now, in this bill, the government proposes not only extending that cost savings, but also making the entire renewal process automatic, providing both convenience and affordability.

We might also discuss driver’s licence fees and photo card fees. In 2019, the government implemented a freeze on renewal fees of drivers’ licences and photo cards. As a result, in the years since then, over $22 million has been saved for Ontarians. This legislation proposes permanently freezing those fees, because our government believes in keeping costs down for the people. Our government has not increased a tax on the backs of Ontarians, and they are not increasing these fees.

Our government is working hard to make sure that every Ontarian is able to get cheaper and convenient transportation all throughout this province, which brings me to a pivotal piece of today’s proposed bill, the Protecting Against Carbon Taxes Act.

If passed, this legislation would enshrine in the laws of Ontario that the provincial government will not impose a carbon tax without the consent of the people. It would be a fair referendum, organized by the Chief Electoral Officer, with standard rules and procedures, and requiring a 50% majority of the vote to pass. This is not unusual. The Taxpayer Protection Act, 1999, provided for a similar referendum mechanism. This would ensure we have a fair and democratic process for establishing a new tax, if any future government wishes to impose one.

We have seen the damage that a federal carbon tax has imposed on our nation. The carbon tax has caused the prices of everything in Ontario to go up, because every item we buy—whether it’s food, clothes, materials for industry—has a transportation cost. These costs were affected and increased by the carbon tax. Every household in Ontario has had their costs increase because of the carbon tax, such as the higher cost of heating. So despite the efforts of our provincial government working hard to make life easier, the federal government is forcing harder choices on the people of Ontario, whether they heat their homes or feed their families.

I noticed on my heating bill a $64 item as carbon tax—$64 of carbon tax monthly. So when the federal government says it’s not significant, I say no; the carbon tax has caused the day-to-day cost of households to go significantly higher.

We have seen the problems of the carbon tax, and we don’t want to see it again. So this bill proposes a simple and reasonable solution: Before any government force a carbon tax, they must get the consent of the people in a fair referendum. This is not a hypothetical situation.

We can trust that this Ontario PC government would not impose a carbon tax, but the same cannot be said about all future administrations. In fact, the Liberals have already done this before. Premier Wynne told everyone that she wasn’t planning on implementing a carbon pricing system, but just a short while later the Liberal government implemented a disastrous cap-and-trade carbon tax.

In the subsequent election, Ontarians elected our government to repeal that carbon tax. We did that. We got it done. But we have learned our lessons from the provincial and federal carbon taxes. Carbon taxes do not work. They hurt people, and Ontarians do not want another carbon tax. That’s why by passing this bill, we would be giving power back to the people to decide for themselves if they want the provincial carbon tax. The people of Ontario deserve a say in this.

Therefore, our government is building infrastructure quickly, all the while making life more affordable for Ontarians. Just to name a few, we are building Highway 413, the Hazel McCallion Line, two-way, all-day GO on the Milton line. The Get It Done Act would make it easier to get this infrastructure built, including municipal projects and provincial priorities.

Affordability measures are making life easier for everyone. This includes the One Fare transit program, the elimination licence plate stickers, freezing the driver’s licence and photo card renewal fees and ensuring no new carbon tax can be imposed without the will of the people.

The Ontario government, led our amazing Premier, is laser-focused on making life affordable for everyone. Whether they call it carbon tax, a toll or a fee, at the end of the day there is only one taxpayer. The Liberals and NDP are willing to raise taxes and fees for Ontarians; we are not. The Liberals and NDP will cost Ontarians; we will not.

Our government is here for the people of Ontario because Ontarians trust us, and we will not let them down. We will get it done. Thank you.