And the supplementary question? The member for Ottawa Centre.

The supplementary question.

I apologize to the member for Beaches–East York. I had to interrupt her because I could not hear her.

Interjections.

Please restart the clock. The member for Beaches–East York.

Please start the clock. The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The member for Brantford–Brant.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The new Liberal leader has been such a staunch advocate for the carbon tax. She could not be more out of touch with the everyday reality that hard-working families and businesses in this province are facing. They are dealing with higher inflation and higher interest rates. The last thing they need is governments raising costs even more on them. But unfortunately, that is exactly what the Liberals are doing with their carbon tax, which they plan on raising again on April 1.

Our government will always oppose this tax. We are committed to lowering costs for the people and businesses across the entire province. Can the minister please highlight what our government has done to lower the cost of doing business across the province of Ontario.

Thank you for the question. Those millions of workers know that this government has got their back. Speaker, 98% of deals in 2023 were done at the bargaining table. In fact, I’d like to congratulate the Minister of Education, who continues to ensure students will remain in class, because we also land deals with public sector unions.

When it comes to these workers, they know that when given the opportunity, that party opposite vote against the 413, against the record 50 hospitals under construction, and against nuclear refurbishment. They can twist themselves into pretzels all they want, but when it comes to workers and working in Ontario and a prosperous Ontario and the men and women who are going to get it done, it’s this government making the investments to ensure that they can have a better job and a bigger paycheque.

The question I would ask that member opposite is, will you support your NDP colleagues across Canada and fight against the carbon tax that’s killing life for workers?

Mr. Speaker, I visited that member’s community, and they know she doesn’t support our record investments to attract world-class auto manufacturing jobs in their community—the Gordie Howe bridge; the painters and the tapers who we need for that bridge; the hospitals, Speaker. And we just heard again in question period today they would cancel the 413.

That party is broke when it comes to ideas for workers that keep men and women in Ontario employed. Not only are we doing that, Speaker, but we’ve launched a record fund to help workers get better jobs, bigger paycheques. We’ve expanded supports for injured workers. Speaker, all they offer workers is misery because they have no plan to keep Ontario—

Back to the Premier: Last year, in March, my NDP colleagues and I reintroduced anti-scab labour legislation for the 16th time. The Conservatives, once again, voted against it.

Last week, Bill C-58, the federal anti-replacement worker, anti-scab labour bill passed second reading with all-party support. Even the federal Conservatives supported it. They voted in favour of it.

If we were to table anti-scab legislation in this House for the 17th time, will the Premier follow the example of his federal Conservative counterparts and support workers by voting in favour of it?

Shocker, Mr. Speaker—Sault Ste. Marie is getting all the love today. I’m loving it.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I have a very, very important question on behalf of the people of Sault Ste. Marie for our wonderful Minister of Energy. Many individuals and families, particularly those in northern Ontario, rely on fuel to heat their homes. Unfortunately, residents in rural and remote parts of northern Ontario face additional barriers in heating their homes due to the lack of viable alternatives.

Families and businesses in Sault Ste. Marie are telling me that they already feel the carbon tax’s impact on their energy bills every single month, and quite frankly, this has been a pretty warm winter in Sault Ste. Marie and throughout the province. It’s unfair and unjust for them to bear the burden of this regressive carbon tax, yet the Liberals and the NDP are content to see the costs related to the carbon tax raised even higher.

Minister, please let us know how our communities in the north are suffering more because of this unaffordable carbon tax.

My question today is to the Minister of Health. Last month, the government caucus voted down my bill to improve the Northern Health Travel Grant. During debate, the parliamentary assistant to the minister said, “We know that patients can’t afford delays or more talk or endless committees and that it’s time to get it done for families in northern Ontario.”

Speaker, given this statement from the parliamentary assistant, I would ask the minister the following question: How soon will the minister and her ministry get it done for northerners and raise the rates for reimbursement and improve the delivery of the Northern Health Travel Grant?

Speaker, I agree with the member from Sault Ste. Marie when he says, “I think what we need are the experts in the field to tell us what the concerns are and where the potential remedies of those concerns are.”

Minister, the Northern Health Travel Grant and primary care are vital to northerners, and we should hear from them. Who’s right here, Minister? The member from Sault Ste. Marie or your parliamentary assistant?

I couldn’t agree more with my parliamentary assistant, doing excellent work in the ministry. The answer is, we’re already doing it. We have already improved the northern Ontario health travel grant. More work needs to be done, absolutely; I agree on that point.

But while we are improving that system and program available to the people of Ontario, I want to remind the member opposite that the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, a northern Ontario school of medicine that was formed by a Conservative government, has now almost doubled the amount of positions and seats available for people training in the north. What does that do, Speaker? It means that people who train in the north tend to stay in the north and continue their service to the people of Ontario as physicians, as nurses, as lab technicians, as paramedics. We’re putting the effort in to make sure that we expand not only the opportunities for people to train, live and work in the north, but of course, our primary care expansion. I would be remiss—

There were two primary care announcements made that will directly improve access to primary care in Sault Ste. Marie. But that’s not all. In Manitoulin Island, Porcupine, Kapuskasing, Sudbury district, French River, Burk’s Falls, Timmins, Chapleau, Wawa, Powassan and more—I could go on. The point is, we are making the investments in primary care expansion. The recruitment is happening today, and we will see those expansions make a noticeable impact for the people of northern Ontario and across Ontario who want access to a primary care physician—the first expansion of multidisciplinary teams since they were formed in our government.

Thank you to the minister for his response.

The Liberals, under the leadership of Bonnie Crombie, are indistinguishable from their federal cousins in Ottawa. They both don’t understand the challenges everyday people are facing, and they think now is a good time to hike taxes again. They both listen to out-of-touch activists in ivory towers who support the carbon tax, while ignoring the hard-working families in this province who despise it.

While the Liberals ignore them, our government will always listen to the hard-working people of this province. We know that by keeping costs down, we can create the conditions for new investments and more good-paying jobs.

Can the minister highlight how, by reducing costs, we’ve been able to secure new investments and create good-paying jobs across the entire province of Ontario?

Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Supplementary question?

Minister of Health.

My question is for the Premier. It’s about anti-scab.

The Premier and the Conservative government talk a good game when it comes to support for workers, but nobody is fooled. For every single one of the Working for Workers bills, New Democrats introduced anti-scab amendments. They voted them all down. Last fall, I brought forward anti-scab legislation. They voted that down.

Anti-scab legislation prevents labour disputes from dragging on. It helps prevent conflict.

My question is, will the Premier tell the millions of Ontario’s workers, from skilled trades to public workers, why he supports their jobs being taken from them if they find themselves in a strike or lockout?

Speaker, to the Premier: The Jackman daycare in my riding and other child care centres are facing profound financial problems. Frozen or falling provincial funding for child care is causing centres to dip into their reserves to keep their doors open. Families cannot afford to lose child care should centres go under or be plunged into crisis. Will the Premier take steps now to address the financial crisis in child care centres?

Mr. Speaker, we have reduced fees by 50% for working families in Toronto and across Ontario. We are building 19,000 spaces in the city of Toronto; 86,000 across the province. We have increased funding for the child care sector at the provincial level, of course, supported by federal investment. Together, we’ve been able to support our operators—all operators, which, of course, is an ideological difference of perspective to the Liberals and New Democrats, who would have omitted the 30% of the sector who are, God forbid, for-profit small businesswomen who operate on small margins of profit. These are people who work hard in our communities; they deserve to have the full support of parliamentarians.

That’s why we stood up to the federal Liberal government for a better deal, for flexibility and support for all families in Ontario, and they should expect that our government will deliver more relief, more spaces and stand up against Liberal bureaucratic delay.

But what we don’t agree with, with respect to the federal Liberal government, is that they should omit for-profit families. We believe as Progressive Conservatives in respecting the choices of parents to raise their kids. We will stand up for flexibility, stand up for affordability and keep building spaces for the people of this province.

Thanks to the member from Sault Ste. Marie for the question. He is right: Members in northern Ontario, like in Sault Ste. Marie, don’t have a lot of choice when it comes to how they heat their homes. A lot of them are using home heating fuels, natural gas and propane.

April 1 is coming up fast; it’s about 25 days away. April 1 is known as April Fool’s Day, and this year it happens to be Easter Monday as well, but do you know what it is again in Justin Trudeau’s world? It’s Groundhog Day, because once again this year, they’re increasing the carbon tax. This time, they’re increasing the carbon tax by 23%. What does that mean for those who heat their home in Sault Ste. Marie and across Ontario? Almost $400 a year in an increase to their home heating bill, not to mention what it means for you when you fill up at the pump and what it’s going to mean in the grocery store.

Mr. Speaker, it’s time to stop this charade at the federal level. Call Justin. Call Jagmeet. Put a pause on this carbon tax. We need to stop it today.

With an increase of 23% in the carbon tax on April 1, it’s going to drive up your home heating bill by another $400 a year. There are many people across this province who simply can’t handle that.

We’ve done everything we can possibly do in Ontario to make life more affordable. We fought the carbon tax all the way to the Supreme Court. We’ve lowered gasoline taxes by 10.7 cents a litre, eliminated licence plate sticker fees and eliminated tolls on our highways. We’ve never raised a tax. We’ve never raised a fee. And do you know what has happened? In spite of that federal carbon tax, that terrible tax, being in place, we’re seeing record growth in our province: 700,000 more people are working today than when we took government in—

The supplementary question.

The next question.

Good morning. My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business. Mr. Speaker, small businesses are the backbone of Ontario’s economy, employing millions of people across many sectors. Unfortunately, I’ve heard repeatedly from business owners in my riding that they’re facing ongoing challenges from rising costs due to the federal carbon tax. They were disappointed, to say the least, in the federal government’s decision to cut the carbon tax rebate for small businesses from 9% to 5%, effective this year.

Speaker, entrepreneurs need opportunity, not obstacles, to drive innovation and growth. While the Liberals and the NDP turn a blind eye to our job creators, our government is listening and looking out for them. Can the associate minister please share with this House what small businesses are telling her about the impact of the federal carbon tax?

Our government must continue to advocate for the small businesses across the province and ensure that they receive the support they need. Can the associate minister share with the House how the carbon tax is costing small businesses and consumers in Ontario?

I really do appreciate the question from the great member from Eglinton–Lawrence. Last week, I had the pleasure to talk to several chambers of commerce from across the province. However, I’ve heard the overwhelming frustration their members are feeling from last week’s changes to the federal carbon tax rebate still owed to our small businesses.

Small businesses from all of our ridings contribute significantly to carbon tax revenues but receive very small portions of it in rebates. Cutting the amount we return to businesses, as the federal government is now doing, will make the burden worse, especially given that they’re still owed billions of dollars from previous years of collections.

Speaker, whether it’s a rural bakery struggling with higher natural gas bills or an urban manufacturing shop dealing with diesel price hikes, business owners all agree this tax is unfair. Businesses need affordable energy so they can focus on retaining and creating local jobs. We’ll continue to stand up for the prosperity of small businesses across Ontario. It’s time the opposition did the same.

Thank you so much to the minister for that exceptional response.

As the cost of living continues to rise, people are justifiably concerned about the carbon tax and how it’s going to make everything in our life more expensive. Workers from all sectors of the economy are already feeling the hardship and challenges because of the carbon tax, and sadly, the federal government does not care. They just don’t care, Mr. Speaker. They’re not doing anything to change it.

Ontario’s hard-working individuals, businesses and farmers deserve to be treated fairly, and they deserve to be treated with dignity. Our government must continue to stand up for the people of this province and ask Justin Trudeau and the federal government to please end the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how further increases of this terrible tax, the carbon tax—this awful tax—are going to hurt Ontarians?

I would like to thank Jamie Paton from Bowmanville for this petition.

“Extend Access to Post-Adoption Birth Information

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas current legislation does not provide access to post-adoption birth information ... to next of kin if an adult adopted person or a natural/birth parent is deceased;

“Whereas this barrier to accessing post-adoption birth information separates immediate family members and prohibits the children of deceased adopted people from gaining knowledge of their identity and possible Indigenous heritage;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to extend access to post-adoption birth information ... to next of kin, and/or extended next of kin, if an adult adopted person or a natural/birth parent is deceased.”

I fully support this petition. I will sign it and pass it to page Abigail to deliver to the table.

Members will know that today is the Ontario Mutual Insurance Association lobby day. I just want to introduce Julie Garner, who’s the chair of Trillium Mutual Insurance, and CEO Tracy MacDonald from Waterloo. Welcome to your House.