I seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 40(e), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to respond to the ministerial statement tomorrow on International Women’s Day.

I would just like to remind all the women in the House that tomorrow, after question period, we will be taking a photo for International Women’s Day here in the chamber.

It gives me great pleasure to introduce a constituent from my riding today. She is a full-time student at the University of Amsterdam. She’s studying in the department of communications, which is the number-one-ranked department of communications in the world. As part of her program of study, she is required to do an internship, which she is completing at the Ministry of Education. Please welcome my daughter, Miriam Leardi.

At the risk of getting the MPP from Kitchener Centre in trouble with her daughter, I would like to welcome Zidra Fobel, who is up in the members’ gallery, to Queen’s Park today.

Ms. Clancy moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 170, An Act to amend the Residential Tenancies Act, 2006, the City of Toronto Act, 2006 and the Municipal Act, 2001 to implement various measures respecting rental accommodation / Projet de loi 170, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2006 sur la location à usage d’habitation, la Loi de 2006 sur la cité de Toronto et la Loi de 2001 sur les municipalités pour mettre en oeuvre diverses mesures relatives aux logements locatifs.

I would like thank Barb MacFarlane for this petition.

“Blood and Plasma Donations Not for Sale...:

“Whereas in the 1980s, 30,000 Canadians were infected by HIV or hepatitis and 8,000 died after receiving tainted blood transfusions; and

“Whereas the resulting royal commission of inquiry led by Justice Horace Krever made recommendations to protect the integrity of blood-product collection; and

“Whereas recommendation 2(b) of the Krever inquiry states donors of blood and plasma should not be paid for their donations; and

“Whereas British Columbia and Quebec have forbidden deals between Canadian Blood Services and the for-profit plasma industry to outsource collection and pay donors;

“Whereas Ontario has legislation that forbids the private sale of blood and plasma under the Voluntary Blood Donations Act;”

They “petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To immediately act to forbid Grifols pharmaceutical from setting up for-profit clinics and paying donors to sell their plasma....”

I fully support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask page Paras to bring it to the Clerk.

I have a petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario that has been signed by thousands of students, but this particular page is signed by students at Trent University.

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts, students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to (1) free and accessible education for all, (2) grants, not loans, and (3) legislate students’ right to organize.”

I am happily signing this and will send to the table with Mesapé.

I also have a petition from some Trent students.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas to support students and their families, Ontario is extending the tuition fee freeze for publicly assisted colleges and universities for at least three more years. While increasing tuition for out-of-province domestic students;

“Whereas colleges and universities will have policies in place relating to mental health and wellness supports and services. Every college and university is required to have policies and rules to address and combat racism and hate, including but not limited to anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia; and

“Whereas providing information about ancillary fees and including costs for textbooks or other learning materials. This could include ensuring that fees are published by institutions in a consistent manner the province will also engage with colleges and universities to create tuition fee transparency to help students and their families better understand how tuition fees are used; and

“Whereas to help more students find jobs, the province intends to allow colleges to offer applied master’s degrees in areas of study that will help students graduate with in-demand skills, expertise and credentials. This approach will also provide employers access to more industry-ready employees that meet labour market needs in specialized fields such as advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence and animation; and

“Whereas introducing measures to protect students and improve the integrity of career colleges. The province will better integrate enforcement efforts across ministries to strengthen oversight of career colleges and will ensure timely responses to concerns and complaints by improving data management, documentation processes and the efficacy of compliance investigations; and

“Whereas launching a career portal to help students understand labour market needs and make informed decisions on post-secondary education. This will consolidate various sources of information to help students and newcomers access education and careers in Ontario;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to take on a responsible approach to allow flexibility amid a challenging financial climate, while protecting students and parents from additional costs.”

I fully endorse this petition and will give it to page Anushga to take to the table.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Erin’s Law amends the Education Act to ensure every board shall develop a policy to engage their pupils annually in all schools under their purview, in a developmentally appropriate manner, regarding the topics of child sexual abuse prevention and reporting, including age-appropriate techniques to recognize child sexual abuse and tell a trusted adult;

“Whereas each board is also required to provide information annually on these topics to parents and guardians, as well as teachers and other staff in schools;

“Whereas to ensure the workforce is prepared, it will include:

“—building upon the mandatory sexual abuse prevention training introduced in September 2022, the zero tolerance for sexual abuse policy by the Ontario College of Teachers and the health and physical education curriculum introduced in 2019; and

“—personnel curriculum must cover the warning signs of child sexual abuse and mandated reporting, how to appropriately respond to disclosure, how to talk to parents, and how to speak to students about child sexual abuse prevention;

“Whereas every board shall ensure that information respecting child sexual abuse prevention and reporting, including information on available counselling and resources for children who are sexually abused, is available to all parents and guardians of pupils enrolled in schools of the board; and

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario support the passage of the Education Amendment Act (Erin’s Law).”

I will affix my signature thereto and give it to page Charles, who will dutifully deliver same to the table.

I would like to thank the many London residents who signed this petition, entitled “Pass the Safe Night Out Act.” It reads:

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas we are experiencing a sexual violence epidemic, with Statistics Canada reporting in 2021 that sexual assault was at its highest level in 25 years and community support organizations reporting more crisis calls than ever;

“Whereas 65% of women report experiencing unwanted sexual advances while socializing in a bar or restaurant, and incidents of sexual assaults involving drugs and alcohol most often occur immediately after leaving a licensed establishment or event; and

“Whereas there is no legal requirement for the people who hold liquor licences and permits, sell and serve liquor, or provide security at licensed establishments and events to be trained in recognizing and safely intervening in sexual harassment and violence;

“Whereas servers in licensed establishments also face high risk of sexual violence and harassment from co-workers and patrons;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately pass the Ontario NDP’s Safe Night Out Act to make Ontario’s bars” and restaurants “and nightclubs safer for patrons and staff by requiring training in sexual violence and harassment prevention, by strengthening protections for servers from workplace sexual violence, and by requiring every establishment to develop and post a policy on how sexual violence and harassment will be handled, including accessing local resources and supports.”

I fully support this petition, affix my signature and send it to the table with page Sarah.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontario is taking the next step to better connect and coordinate people’s home care services through Ontario health teams; and

“Whereas the province has already approved 57 teams across the province that will help people experience easier transitions from one provider to another, with one patient record and one care plan being shared; and

“Whereas the government is investing over $128 million to provide OHTs with $2.2 million over three years to better coordinate people’s care. This would establish a new single organization called Ontario Health atHome that will coordinate all home care services across the province through the Ontario health teams; and

“Whereas instead of navigating a complex system and waiting for a call at home, Ontario health teams will be able to provide people with easy-to-understand home care plans and what care they will receive before going home from the hospital; and

“Whereas care coordinators would be assigned to work within OHTs and other front-line care settings to facilitate seamless transitions for people from hospital or primary care to home care services; and

“Whereas an initial group of 12 Ontario health teams have been chosen to accelerate their work to deliver home care in their local communities starting in 2025. With support from the Ministry of Health and Ontario Health, these teams will start by focusing on seamlessly transitioning people experiencing chronic disease through their primary care, hospital, and home and community care needs;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To urge all members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to build on the progress this government has made on building a patient-centred home and community care system.”

Speaker, I support this petition, affix my name to it and ask page Max to take it to the table.

I want to thank the residents of Waterloo region for sending this petition:

“Pause the Expansion of Methane-Fired Electricity Generation

“Whereas the Earth just passed through the hottest three months on record;

“Whereas Canada is experiencing the most severe wildfire season on record;

“Whereas the Ontario government is preparing investments for electricity supply for the long term;

“Whereas in light of recent reports by the RBC Climate Action Institute, Dunsky Energy and Climate Advisors, and the Sustainability Solutions Group;

“We, the undersigned, call upon the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to pause the expansion of methane-fired electricity generation and evaluate the role of renewable energy and storage, conservation, distributed energy resources, and municipal net-zero plans in meeting Ontario’s electricity needs.”

I support this petition, will sign it and ask page Jeremy to bring it to the table.

I move concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services.

It’s an honour to rise in the House this afternoon in my role as parliamentary assistant to the President of the Treasury Board and as a member of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to discuss the process of concurrence in supply, particularly with respect to estimates for the 2023-24 fiscal year. This is the third year that I’ve had the privilege to rise in this House to speak in favour of concurrences.

But first, before I begin my remarks, I want to take a moment to offer my deepest condolences to the minister and her family on the passing of her father, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, the 18th Prime Minister of Canada. Speaker, Brian Mulroney was the reason that I first got involved in politics in Mississauga, in the local campaigns of MP Don Blenkarn and then MPP Margaret Marland.

For them and for all of us, Brian Mulroney was a transformative leader and a reminder of what can be possible in public life. He was the driving force behind NAFTA, an incredible success in North America and an example of the benefits of free trade for the rest of the world. His acid rain treaty was one of the most successful environmental initiatives in history, with our emissions of chemicals like sulphur dioxide down by 90% or more.

As former US President George Bush said, Mulroney helped to end the Cold War. Along the way, he made Canada the first Western country or government to recognize the independence of Ukraine. He also holds a special place in the history of South Africa as a leader in the international campaign against apartheid.

Speaker, his position was not always popular at the time, but as Mulroney said a few years ago at the Albany Club event in honour of Sir John A. Macdonald, “Leaders must have vision and they must find the courage to fight for the policies that will give that vision life. Leaders must govern not for easy headlines in 10 days but for a better Canada in 10 years.”

I will always remember him with the deepest admiration and respect, and I’m so honoured to be able to work together with the minister to fight for our Premier’s vision, including the investments outlined in Ontario’s 2023 budget, Building a Strong Ontario Together, and supported by the 2023-24 estimates.

Speaker, concurrence in supply will not be the subject of the water cooler discussions tomorrow. It won’t trend on Twitter or appear on the nightly news. But as I’ve always said before, during this annual process, I believe it is important for the general public and, in particular, for all members of this House to understand every detail of the procedures of our fiscal cycle.

It can’t be said enough that every dollar spent throughout the fiscal year comes out of the pockets of hard-working Ontario taxpayers. In times like these, it is very essential that the government be held to the highest standards of fiscal accountability and transparency for all of the decisions that we make. And the concurrence in supply debate is a key part of meeting that high standard.

So, to begin, I would like to outline the government’s fiscal cycle. The former President of the Treasury Board tabled volume 1 of the 2023-24 expenditure estimates on April 20, 2023. This part of the expenditure estimates provides a detailed public record of government ministry and office budgets, based on the spending plans outlined in the 2023 Ontario budget.

Of course, the government may also table supplementary estimates to ensure the government has the funding it needs through the year. In this fiscal year, supplementary estimates were tabled on November 29, 2023, and again last week, on February 29, 2024. Combined, they provided additional funding for the contingency fund, to add greater flexibility to the fiscal plan, and for education and transportation initiatives.

The President of the Treasury Board tabled volume 2 of the 2023-24 expenditure estimates on November 29, 2023. This second volume of estimates outlines the spending plans of the independent legislative offices, including the Office of the Assembly, the Auditor General, the Chief Electoral Officer and the Ontario Ombudsman.

Speaker, all together, the estimates provide details of the operating and capital spending needs of ministries and the legislative offices for the 2023-24 fiscal year. They represent the government’s formal request to the Legislature to approve its spending requirements for the fiscal year. This is an annual process that every Ontario government completes to provide each ministry with the legal authority to spend their capital and operating budgets. Basically, it allows us to proceed with the business of government.

For everyone curious about estimates, I should note that they are all available to the public at ontario.ca/estimates. This an excellent resource because it provides information on estimates going back more than 20 years.

Once the estimates are tabled, they are referred to the relevant standing committees for review. The committees then select ministries to appear and answer questions about the relevant estimates. The 2023-24 cycle is the second time that we have used this approach. Previously, the estimates were referred to the old Standing Committee on Estimates. And as a member of that committee at the time, I can recall—and I’m sure other members will agree—under the old standing orders, many fewer ministries were selected for the estimates review process.

So, again, I want to thank the government House leader for his approach, which ensures that there can be a more rigorous review of the estimates of almost every ministry, every year.

Speaker, committee members have the opportunity to review specific allocations. These allocations are referred to as votes, because the committee votes on each allocation. Committee members review the estimates briefing books provided by the ministries, including the published plans and annual reports for each ministry, which provide important context for every vote item. Members then have the opportunity to question representatives from the ministry and give them an opportunity to explain the proposed spending.

The reasons for this process are clear: It provides oversight of the government’s spending and ensures that spending is 100% accountable to legislators, and through them, accountable to the people of Ontario.

Standing order 66(a) requires that the committee must complete their work by the third Thursday in November of each year. After this process, the estimates of all the ministries and offices that were selected for review by the Legislature’s committees are reported back to the House for concurrence. Which brings us to the issue that we’re dealing with today.

This process known as concurrence, together with our review of the supply bill later this month, represents the final steps toward the approval of all spending proposed by the government in the estimates and supplementary estimates that have been tabled for the current fiscal year, which ends on March 31, 2024. This, along with the public accounts process, can be seen as crossing the finish line for the fiscal year.

It’s very important for me to note that the government is not proposing any new spending today. Those debates and those votes have already taken place. What the government is asking for is for the House to approve the spending plans that are outlined in the 2023-24 estimates.

Speaker, it is important to note that the spending plans outlined in the 2023-24 estimates are consistent with the 2023 Ontario budget, Building a Strong Ontario, published a year ago. As the parliamentary assistant at the Treasury Board, I had the opportunity to work with the Minister of Finance and with our colleagues to help ensure that the 2023 budget is a fiscally responsible plan for a stronger Ontario.

I also had the opportunity to travel around the province last year for pre-budget consultations with the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. As I’ve said before, the 2023 budget reflects the concerns and priorities of the Ontarians who were heard from during the process.

It was also a long-term, prudent and realistic path forward for Ontario. Speaker, that path has been clear. Throughout the estimates process, it focused on driving growth and lowering costs, getting key infrastructure projects built faster and attracting more jobs and more investments right across Ontario. This was a budget designed to help businesses, families and workers.

The people of Ontario deserve a government with a clear vision for the future. As Brian Mulroney would say, they deserve leaders who govern not for easy headlines in 10 days, but for a better Ontario in 10 years. Because we know that the hard-working people of Ontario were not served well by the government that looked only at short-term political consideration.

Before we were elected in 2018, companies were leaving Ontario. Ontario had lost over 300,000 manufacturing jobs, including many in the auto sector. Sergio Marchionne at Fiat Chrysler said Ontario was the most expensive place to do business in North America. My friends and I at the Ford assembly plant in Oakville, where I worked for 31 years, watched as Ontario lost auto sector jobs, while a former Liberal Minister of Finance from Mississauga–Lakeshore told us that assembly line manufacturing was just a thing of the past.

Speaker, 15 years of Liberal mismanagement and underinvestment left us with an infrastructure deficit, overcrowded hospitals and badly outdated facilities that simply were not up to the challenges we faced during the pandemic. As the former Liberal Deputy Premier and the Minister of Health George Smitherman said, Ontario Liberals really starved health care for five years, and that is not spoken enough. Former Premier Wynne admits that she would not have done this if she had known a pandemic was coming. I was shocked last year when the current Liberal leader, Bonnie Crombie, who did know a pandemic was coming, told TVO that she would have spent even less on health care.

Speaker, we have a very different approach. The Premier, the Minster of Finance and our team have made Ontario open for business again. We’re cutting taxes and energy costs; we’re building a world-class skilled workforce; and we’re reducing burdens and red tape. These policies have produced an economic recovery that leads the country, and they give us the revenue we need to invest in world-class infrastructure and service.

Since 2018, Ontario has added over 715,000 new jobs. In fact, in 2023, Ontario created more manufacturing jobs than all 50 US states combined. In the last three years alone, we have been able to attract over $28 billion of investment from global automotive manufacturers.

As the Premier said last month at the event at the Pioneer gas station in Port Credit, provincial revenue in 2017 and 2018 in the last full year of the former Liberal government was $150 billion. This year, 2023-24, provincial revenue is projected to be almost $203 billion, a $53-billion, or 35%, increase over six years. Growth has given us the revenue we need for the specific investments in hospitals, schools, transit, highways and other key infrastructure that are included in the estimates, and I’d like to speak about some of these today in great detail.

Speaker, we all recognize the Ontario population is growing rapidly. That is one of the reasons this government has developed the most ambitious capital plan in Ontario’s history. Ontario’s Plan to Build includes investments of $185 billion in infrastructure over the next 10 years, including $20.4 billion this year alone and almost $26 billion next year, in 2024-25. This is real investment and a real commitment to the growth and prosperity of this province.

But, Speaker, since we are discussing the finances of the province in this fiscal cycle, I think it would be a good time to provide some top-line numbers. As you know, a month ago, the Minister of Finance released the province’s third-quarter finances to provide an update on the overall picture of Ontario’s economic and fiscal outlook. This is the most up-to-date financial information that we have.

Of course, the deficit is a key measure of the province’s financial health and stability. As the government upholds the highest standards of fiscal responsibility, it is always important to understand exactly how much of a burden that a deficit represents for future generations of this province. With this in mind, the province’s 2023-24 deficit is now predicted to be $4.5 billion. Now, there is no denying that this is a significant number. However, it should also be noted that this deficit is $1.1 billion less than what was predicted in the 2023 fall economic statement. This means that we’re moving in the right direction.

The reduction of the deficit was mainly due to increased revenues and lower debt interest expenses. This is very good news for the fiscal health of our province. It means that we’re reducing the burden on future generations of Ontarians, on our children and our grandchildren and on their children as well as the many newcomers who will come to Ontario in the next year.

Setting my red pen aside now and picking up my black pen: Overall government revenues in 2023-24 are now projected to be $202.7 billion. That’s $942 million higher than the forecast from the 2023 fall economic statement. Now, it’s a fair question to ask: How did the fall economic statement underestimate government revenues by nearly a billion dollars? Well, the answer is actually quite simple: The new revenue forecast reflects stronger-than-expected college sector revenues. It also reflects higher tax revenues as a result of new information received from the federal government since the fall economic statement.

In 2023-24, overall program expenses are now projected to be $193.4 billion. That is $424 million higher than the forecast in the 2023 fall economic statement, and it’s $2.8 billion higher than the 2023 budget plan. Again, the obvious question is “Why?” Well, there are a few factors that explain this increase. Firstly, there was an additional $1.7-billion investment in the health care sector, mainly to address the pressures related to the compensation costs, cancer treatment services and other health care initiatives. As well, there was a new $704-million investment as part of the New Deal for Toronto, including $504 million for transit and transportation.

Speaker, I would now like to move into some of the particular details about the government’s fiscal activities over the past year, including some of the key investments that the government has made in 2023-24.

As you know, Speaker, the health and well-being of the people of Ontario has always been and always will be the top priority of this Premier and this government. We continue to make investments to improve health and long-term-care infrastructure right across the province, from Fort Frances to Cornwall, from Pickle Lake to Kingsville, and everywhere in between.

Under the leadership of this Premier, in the 2023 budget the government committed more than $54 billion over 10 years in the largest hospital and long-term-care building programs in Canadian history. That includes $32 billion in capital grants—grants that will get shovels in the ground to build the health care infrastructure that Ontario needs, including over 50 hospital projects that would add 3,000 new beds over 10 years.

In long-term care, the government is making an historic investment of $6.4 billion to build over 30,000 new beds and to upgrade 28,000 long-term-care beds across the province by 2028.

In my community of Mississauga–Lakeshore alone, this includes an historic multi-billion dollar investment to build the largest hospital in Canadian history and the largest long-term-care home in Ontario, which we just opened in November. At 22 storeys, three million square feet and almost 1,000 beds, the new Mississauga Hospital will be the most advanced in the country. It will include a 200,000-square-foot women’s and children’s hospital, which will be the first of its kind in Canada. In total, it will be triple the size of the current hospital, which first opened in 1958.

And in one of Ontario’s fastest-growing communities in Brampton, we’re working together with the William Osler Health System to transform Peel Memorial hospital into a 24/7 in-patient hospital and urgent care centre.

Speaker, we promised to make investments to improve health care in every corner of this province, to ease pressure on hospitals, to help doctors and nurses work more efficiently, and to provide better, faster health care for patients and their families. And we’re keeping that promise.

In the 2023 budget, the province announced significant investments to reduce hospital wait times by offering more surgeries at community surgical and diagnostic centres. This investment allows hospitals to turn their attention to more complex and high-risk surgeries, reduce surgery wait times, and ease emergency department pressures. And I’m pleased to be able to say that this approach has already seen results. As of June 2023, the wait-list for surgeries has been reduced by more than 25,000, from its peak in March 2022. The government is committed to learn from this and to reduce wait times even further, by expanding funding to existing community surgical and diagnostic centres and funding new centres for MRI and CT imaging and orthopaedic surgeries and procedures.

Of course, reducing hospital wait times is just one part of our vision for the health care system in Ontario. We’re also making important progress on our plan to build modern, safe and comfortable long-term-care homes for seniors and residents.

From 2011 to 2018, the former Liberal government added only 611 long-term-care beds for the entire province; as the number of Ontarians over 75 increased by 75%, the number of long-term-care beds increased by less than 1%.

When I was elected five years ago, there were over 4,500 people on the wait-list for long-term care in Mississauga alone, and we had 20% fewer long-term-care beds than the provincial average, with many of them badly out of date.

This government has a very different vision. When I joined the Premier just over three years ago to announce the accelerated build program in an empty field on Speakman Drive in Mississauga–Lakeshore, he had a clear vision of what it could be: a modern, comfortable and safe new home for hundreds of seniors. As I said, 632 new residents have just moved into Wellbrook Place, the largest long-term-care home in Ontario—larger than the Credit Valley Hospital was when it was first built 38 years ago. It will be part of the new campus of care for seniors, including a new health service building and the very first residential hospice in Mississauga.

And, Speaker, there are projects like this under way right across Ontario. Since the 2023 budget, a number of new long-term-care homes have been completed and opened to new residents. Of course, any new facility that is built is going to require staff: more trained physicians, nurses, personal support workers and other health care professionals. That’s why we’re building a stronger health care workforce that will be able to meet the needs of our growing province.

Over last five years, Ontario has added over 10,000 new doctors and over 80,000 new nurses to the health care system. Thanks to this government’s investments, Ontario now leads the country, with 90% of people connected to regular health care providers. But, Speaker, this is just the start. As the Deputy Premier announced last month, the government is investing $110 million to connect up to 320,000 people to primary care teams.

Combined with this historic investment to expand medical education, including in growing and underserved communities like Brampton and Scarborough, and the work that we’re doing to allow highly skilled but internationally trained doctors to care for patients in Ontario, the Minister of Health expects that up to 98% of people—almost everyone in Ontario—will be connected to a regular health care provider within the next few years.

Of course, Ontario’s growing population also means that there is a need to continue to build the province’s infrastructure. As I’ve mentioned, the government plans to invest over $185 billion over the next 10 years in public infrastructure. Speaker, I’m proud to say that this is the largest capital plan in the 156-year history of Ontario.

This plan includes $71 billion for transit infrastructure, including $7.5 billion this year, the largest investment in transit in Ontario’s history. It includes game-changing new projects like the Ontario Line here in Toronto, which will connect to over 40 other transit routes, including the GO train line, TTC subway and streetcar lines, and the Eglinton Crosstown LRT line. In my community of Mississauga–Lakeshore, it includes the new 18-kilometre Hazel McCallion LRT line on Hurontario and the new BRT line on Lakeshore.

The government’s plan also includes $28 billion over 10 years to support highway expansion, maintenance and repair projects right across the province to improve our highway network, because, whatever the federal environment minister may say, we know that highways and roads are critical to the economic well-being of Ontario. This includes Highway 413, which will connect Peel, Halton and York regions to support the moving of people and goods across the western GTA.

As the Minister of Transportation said earlier this week, the GTA is adding hundreds of thousands of new residents every year. We simply don’t have the highway capacity that we need to support this growth. All the major highways in the western GTA, including the 407, will be over capacity within the next 10 years. The 413 will finally bring relief to an area that clearly needs it, saving drivers up to 30 minutes of commute each way. That’s five hours per week, 260 hours each year, or a total of 11 days every year.

The Bradford Bypass, from Highway 400 in Simcoe county to Highway 404 in York region, is expected to save commuters even more, up to 35 minutes per trip. That is six hours each week, or 300 hours each year. In my community, the first phase of the QEW/Dixie interchange improvement is now completed in Mississauga–Lakeshore, and the $314-million QEW/Credit River Improvement project is well under way, with traffic now on the new twin bridge over the Credit River.

Speaker, this government is also making improvements to ensure that we can build highways, transit and other community infrastructure better and faster. For example, we are looking at how big projects were delivered in the past, and we found that we could do this better and more efficiently. We are improving our procurement process to reduce the risk of delays.

The government is now using a variety of delivery models and innovative procurement strategies to make it easier to work with builders on project requirements, design and pricing. This will help to ensure that Ontario gets the most competitive bids for our infrastructure projects.

We have re-examined the bidding process, looking through new lenses that value creativity and efficiency. We are now separating large complex projects such as the Ontario Line into smaller contracts to generate more market interest and to lay the foundation for future work.

The government is continuing to use modular bids and promote design standardization while also working with municipalities to enable faster improvements. All of these initiatives are helping us get shovels in the ground while creating new jobs to help us build our much-needed new infrastructure. That is why we introduced the Building Transit Faster Act, to streamline processes on priority projects.

I would also like to highlight the important initiatives from my ministry, the Treasury Board Secretariat. In just a few weeks, on April 1, a new regulation under the Building Ontario Businesses Initiative Act, the BOBI, will come into effect. This will help provide businesses across Ontario with greater access to procurement opportunities right across the public sector, including ministries and agencies but also hospitals and schools in the broader public sector.

It will do this by changing the way we evaluate bids to help level the playing field for Ontario businesses. Because of this initiative, Ontario businesses will be able to sell more goods and services and create more jobs in their local communities.

In fact, our government expects, through BOBI, at least $3 billion in contracts will go to Ontario businesses every year by 2026. That’s $3 billion back into our own economy. And when you think about this, it only makes sense that Ontario businesses should benefit from the spending of their own government. But beyond the actual dollar amount, I bring up the example because it demonstrates the kind of innovative thinking and approach that our government is taking. This is not a time for businesses as usual.

I have mentioned some of the economic pressures that are affecting the people of Ontario in their every day lives. It is because of these factors that the Premier and this government have made it a top priority to help keep cost down for families, businesses and people right across Ontario. The province has taken many actions this year to do just that, and I’d like to take an opportunity to speak about just a few of them now.

After much consultation, we have extended the province’s gas tax and fuel tax rate cuts until the end of June 2024. That means savings for the people of Ontario every time they go to the pumps.

As Jay Goldberg, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said, this will ensure that critical tax relief continues into 2024. At the same time, we have called on the federal government to stop their carbon tax increase, which would add 17.6 cents per litre to the price of gas on April 1. That increases the price of everything.

I want to take a moment to thank my friend from Leeds–Grenville–Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes for his motion number 82, which I look forward to supporting.

Speaking of putting more money back in people’s pockets, I also want to congratulate my friends the Minister of Transportation and the Associate Minister of Transportation on the One Fare initiative, which eliminates double or triple fares for most local transit services in the greater Golden Horseshoe when commuters also use GO Transit service.

With the One Fare program, commuters in Mississauga–Lakeshore and across the province are now able to travel more easily and affordably, saving an average of $1,600 each year on an expanded and electrified GO Transit Lakeshore West line, on the new Hazel McCallion LRT and on the new Lakeshore BRT corridor, on the TTC or on other municipal transit systems right across the GTA.

Speaker, the 2023 budget also provides financial support for more seniors by expanding the Guaranteed Annual Income System program—100,000 more seniors will be eligible for this program beginning this July, including payments of up to $166 per month for single seniors and $332 per month for seniors in couples. I think it’s important to note that this benefit is now adjusted each year based on inflation, which is a critical detail in these times.

Our government also committed to invest in supportive housing, with an additional $202 million each year for the Homelessness Prevention Program and the Indigenous Supportive Housing Program, a 40% increase over the 2023-23 budget. Both of these programs were designed to help those at risk of homelessness and those escaping domestic violence.

In my community of Mississauga–Lakeshore, this investment is helping to double the capacity of Armagh house, the only transitional housing facility in Peel for victims of domestic violence. Again, I want to thank the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and his team for all their great work on this program.

These are just a few examples of the concrete actions that this government is taking to keep costs down for some of this province’s most vulnerable people.

Speaker, I would like to close my remarks today by thanking all the members who are here today to listen to the debate, and I hope all members will vote in support.

Debate?

I want to thank the students, the staff and the parents from Ossington/Old Orchard school for submitting this petition. The petition is entitled, “Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from the Elementary Teachers of Toronto to Stop the Cuts and Invest in the Schools our Students Deserve.

“Whereas the Ford government cut funding to our schools by $800 per student during the pandemic period, and plans to cut an additional $6 billion to our schools over the next six years;

“Whereas these massive cuts have resulted in larger class sizes, reduced special education and mental health supports and resources for our students, and neglected and unsafe buildings;

“Whereas the Financial Accountability Office reported a $2.1-billion surplus in 2021-22, and surpluses growing to $8.5 billion in 2027-28, demonstrating there is more than enough money to fund a robust public education system;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“—immediately reverse the cuts to our schools;

“—fix the inadequate education funding formula;

“—provide schools the funding to ensure the supports necessary to address the impacts of the pandemic on our students;

“—make the needed investments to provide smaller class sizes, increased levels of staffing to support our students’ special education, mental health, English language learner and wraparound supports needs, and safe and healthy buildings and classrooms.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my signature and pass it to page Mercy to take to the table.

Further debate?

It’s a pleasure to join the debate today. This is actually the first time I’ve been able to get up to speak to a broad piece of legislation or, as today, a concurrence motion.

I just wanted to start with some good news. In my family, just before Christmas, my son, Aidan, proposed to his long-time love of nine years, and she said yes. So I think you should be prepared to hear a lot about the wedding industry and that sector. I can tell you one thing that won’t be happening, though: I will not be inviting any stakeholders to the stag and doe. I’ve learned the lesson here from Queen’s Park.

The other thing that happened is that now I have VIP parking at Rexall because I turned 55, and it’s a really good program. I’m taking all the perks that I can get wherever I can get them.

Also, I just want to say, we had a very successful pre-budget consultation, and this is my first opportunity to thank the broadcasting staff, the Clerks and, of course, the research staff. I’m really hopeful, when the government reads the report that we prepared for the finance minister ahead of the budget, which will be on March 21 or March 28—he will not tell me—that those voices across Ontario inform that budget, because that is actually our responsibility here in this House. I want to thank the Chair of the finance committee, who I see here in the House as well.

I also just want to say, before I get into the substantive comments about the finances of the province of Ontario, that this morning’s tribute to Brian Mulroney was really touching. I have to say I think that our leader really brought it home, the impact that public service can have, the long-standing impact on communities, on our reputation as a country, on our own families. I thought everybody did a very good job. I also want to say, including to the Premier—he actually made me cry a little bit and not for the usual reasons. That is my attempt at humour in that regard.

It is also worth noting that in my office here at Queen’s Park, I have this beautiful scroll that is signed by Brian Mulroney. It was signed to my father-in-law, Walter Fife, who is deceased. It indicates how politics used to be so very different, because it’s a thank-you note for his service to the country in national defence. I keep it there as a reminder that none of us do any of this work successfully, meaningfully, without the people who help us, the staff in this place and our own research staff. We really are very fortunate and very privileged to be in this House, to hold this responsibility.

It is with that that I will make some commentary on where the finances are in the province of Ontario. I’m going to start with housing, because in every riding across this great province, housing is the number one issue, I would say. It’s very much connected to the cost of living, which will underpin my entire commentary.

When you look at where we are right now, in March 2024, I don’t think anybody expected the housing crisis to worsen. Housing starts are down significantly. They are down from 96,000 in 2022 to 89,000 in 2023, and 24 of the 50 municipalities are below 80% of their annual target of housing, including my own city of Waterloo. I’m going to talk about why they are there and the role that the provincial government could strengthen, to come to the table as a true partner to municipalities in the housing crisis.

I’m going to quote from one of the first articles. This is a CBC article by our own Mike Crawley. It examines the tools—or the stick; whatever you want to say—and how this government is trying to motivate housing. Based on the housing starts, based on the fact that we are losing ground, those mechanisms that this government is using—those tools at your disposal, some of them legislative tools—are not succeeding. This could be a very dangerous tipping point for this province, because without shelter, without stable housing, it is so difficult to move forward as an economy, to ensure that people in this province reach their potential. Housing underpins the economy and we must get it right, and I would argue that right now the government is not doing that.

This article is called “What Should the Ford Government Do about Developers Who Go Years without Building Homes?” This is happening in all of our ridings. “Some Ontario cities want power to slap ‘use it or lose it’ penalties on stalled housing projects.”

Let me tell you why this is so important. Some of you will know this very personally. “The town of Newmarket approved rezoning of [a] property along Yonge Street to allow a high-rise development of more than 500 housing units back in 2018, but construction is yet to begin.

“At least 20 Ontario municipalities are so far away from reaching their provincially mandated targets for new home construction starts that they have virtually no chance of hitting the mark, and will face stiff financial consequences in 2024.

“The problem is something municipal politicians say puts Ontario at risk of failing to meet the goal of 1.5 million new homes.” This is a fictional goal as it stands right now, Madam Speaker—essentially just talking points.

“Under current rules set by” the Premier’s “government, cities that fall short of the 2023 target for housing starts will not get any money next year from the province’s $1.2-billion fund to help cover the costs of housing-related infrastructure.”

Now, we all know there is such a strong connection to having that infrastructure, those roads, those sewers. Without that, you cannot build houses, right? With this partnership, the government has intentionally created an imbalance between municipalities and the province.

Now, I will admit that municipalities are creatures of the province. This is a well-known relationship, but it has never become this hostile. It very much feels to many cities across this province that this is a very punitive measure of this government.

One councillor, who happens to be in that place called Mississauga, Councillor Tedjo, “feels particularly frustrated when he looks across the half-empty parking lot” that I just referenced. So cities have made these approvals. They have approved these developments and developers are not moving forward. And then, in turn, what happens here? The government punishes those municipalities.

But he goes on to say, “I don’t think it’s fair at all that the province is measuring our success on housing starts and not on housing approvals.” He's not the only one. He’s not the only municipal politician raising concerns about the role developers play in Ontario’s housing crisis. They’re pointing to housing projects that have all the necessary municipal approvals, but developers have yet to put a shovel in the ground. Some of those nine municipalities in York region include the cities of Vaughan, Markham and Richmond Hill. They’ve approved more than 49,000 housing units that are not yet under construction. That’s a lot—49,000, Madam Speaker.

So these councils are doing their work. They are fast-tracking and streamlining the approvals, but at the end of the day, the housing is not coming to fruition and that leaves so many Ontarians really—some of them, literally—out in the cold.

Some of these titles are—“Ontario’s Road to 1.5M New Homes Has Gotten Rockier, Construction Insiders Say.” So whatever you are doing, you’ve actually put up more barriers to housing. The question this provokes in city halls around Ontario is, why is this government taking such a punitive approach to municipalities? It really does. This is a really important question. We know that the minister has said that he’s not even considering changing the rules on how municipalities qualify for the fund, so this $1.2-billion pot of money is held out here in front of municipalities, and yet, even when they go through a successful approval process, they can’t build the houses themselves. This is the role of the developers. Some developers are land banking, right? They’re banking that land until prices go up, until things become more stable—who knows? But this is what Newmarket Mayor John Taylor calls “the policy not only unfair to municipalities, but also potentially damaging to the government's own plan … because he believes it will hamper the building of the water and sewer facilities needed” to build housing.

So some people think that some pressure should be put on some of those developers, but I actually have an example in my riding of Waterloo where we do have a progressive developer. It’s called Solowave. His name is Richard Boyer. These are 3,400 purpose-built rental units—that’s a huge number. It’s up by the Conestogo Park Square. But right now, it isn’t the city of Waterloo who is holding up this development and it certainly isn’t the developer. The developer has been working on this plan for almost four years; that’s how slow it has been.

The city of Waterloo—they’re on board. The region of Waterloo—on board. You know where the problem is? The problem is with the Ministry of Transportation, because MTO expects this developer to upgrade the highway to address traffic. And then every time there’s a new housing development, they have to do another traffic study. I think they’ve done three traffic studies. So what’s happening right now? Instead of building houses, developers are paying for traffic studies. It makes zero sense.

This developer, by the way—and I did write to the Minister of Transportation and there is a letter coming to the Minister of Housing—he’s about ready, if there’s one more barrier that’s set up in front of this project, to plant beans. So instead of building houses, we’re going to have non-descript farming. It doesn’t make any sense, Madam Speaker.

So the housing file is not going well. I think that would be an understatement. And just for context, in some part of Ontario, the number of homes sold in 2023 dropped to levels not seen for 20 years.

So we have a stagnant housing market in Ontario. The actions of this government have further destabilized that market, and the combination of high interest rates and buyers waiting for prices to tumble further certainly is not helping it.

But at the end of the day, the number of home sales in the greater Toronto area in 2023 is on track to be lower than in any year since 2001. And we all know that the population is increasing. So the housing specialists, the housing leaders across this province have said that we’re looking at housing stagnation. All of us need to make sure that the municipalities are supported in their work. This 2023 low, we have not seen it since the turn of the century.

When I looked at the FAO report this morning, and I see where some money is going some places and some money is not going some places, this government has to get your act together on housing. It’s long overdue.

This speaks, really, to the priorities of this government. We hear so many throwaway lines from this government, like: “We’re putting more money in your pocket. We’re taking our hands out of your pocket.” It’s really very interesting to see which pockets you are really concerned about, because the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour. And one of the first things that this government did was freeze the minimum wage, you’ll remember. What a devastating impact this had on front-line workers. This happened in 2018. The government froze the recently changed minimum wage, which at that point was $14, and they did it for two years.

They also cancelled a series of planned increases that had been set to begin with the 2019. What Deena Ladd has said is that, “What he did was basically take away a dollar increase, then take away the adjustments for two years, and then start to adjust it again in 2021.”

It’s really interesting, if cost that out—and we did raise this during the debate at the time. If you cost it out, one estimate—and this was from a research study—confirmed that if this government had not “instituted the freeze, each minimum wage worker would since have earned between $3,000 and $6,000 more between 2018 and 2021. These lost potential wages came at a bad time, the authors of the estimate write: ‘Many minimum wage workers put their own health at risk to keep working on the front lines of our economy throughout the pandemic. The three-year delay in raising the minimum wage to $15 cost them dearly.’”

So once again: very selective about who you’re saving money for and who you’re not. And let’s remember, this study could not even quantify the impact on racialized minimum wage workers, and that gap and that disparity in wages is well documented.

When we look at the findings of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives around the minimum wage, because we hear lots of talk about how generous and compassionate some of these changes have been, this is a hard and cruel change which we are still feeling today. The impact of those decisions are still being felt today. But the findings from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives report says, “The discrepancy between the rental wage and the minimum wage is such that, in most Canadian cities, minimum wage earners are extremely unlikely to escape core housing need. They are likely spending too much on rent, living in units that are too small, or, in many cases, both.”

So, I’m connecting your policy decision to freeze the minimum wage and that impact on people’s ability to be housed, to find shelter. These are core issues that Ontarians face.

Even with the catch-up, the 6.8% raise, “A full-time minimum wage worker in the GTA will still be short by $260 a week in trying to make ends meet.... There’s nowhere in the province where you can survive off the minimum wage, now, or after Oct. 1.” This quote was from Craig Pickthorne from the Ontario Living Wage Network.

These are important policy decisions that the government has made, that have not been in the best interests of Ontarians.

I’m going to move on to energy costs too, because as I mentioned in my opening comments, the cost of living is really having such a negative impact on the quality of life that Ontarians are experiencing. And what I will say about energy costs—I think that my parents from Peterborough may be watching. Energy costs are something that impacts their daily lives because most seniors are on fixed incomes, and there is not a lot of wiggle room there at all. But the decision by the Minister of Energy to override the Ontario Energy Board—and we read about this just before the House came back. This story, you couldn’t write this story because—please remember that I served with many of the PC MPPs that are across the row today. When the Liberals interfered and politicized the Ontario Energy Board, there was such a hue and cry. You could not believe it, quite honestly. What I’m seeing is such a complete reversal in how politicians act when they’re in opposition versus when they are in government, and I’m going to give some context for this.

This is an article by John Woodside. He writes: “Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is tabling new legislation to overrule the provincial energy regulator in a move worth billions of dollars that benefits gas giant Enbridge,” and it goes on to say that if passed, this “move would effectively strip the regulator of its arm’s-length role.”

Now, we know that this government is not really big on independent arm’s-length agencies or, for that matter, independent officers, quite honestly, as demonstrated by their removal of the child advocate and the francophone—

Environmental.

Environmental, oh my God. I mean, I know the independent officers are sort of on eggshells a little bit, because this government is not a fan of impartial non-partisan critiquing.

But this case is so interesting, because the Ontario Energy Board, please remember, is responsible for ensuring that energy policy in Ontario serves the people that we’re elected to serve, that it’s in their best interests. In this instance, the OEB decision reviewed where the government was going with natural gas, and the “decision requiring new gas infrastructure to be paid upfront was an attempt to grapple with the realities of the energy transition off fossil fuels.” Remember, this is the hottest year that we’ve seen, I think ever. Climate change, just for the record, is real and it is impacting the province of Ontario and this great country. “As fossil fuels are phased out in favour of clean alternatives, allowing Enbridge to pay off fossil fuel infrastructure by spreading costs over all ratepayers into the 2060s represents a significant financial risk to the public.”

The Ontario Energy Board found that the government was moving in a direction which was fiscally irresponsible, that was not conforming to our environmental responsibilities and that was going to be very costly for the people, including many, many stranded assets. That’s their job. Their job is to be forward-looking and to see what the land is like out there.

So, the government said “it is overriding the regulator in the interest of keeping housing costs down, but that position isn’t supported by evidence,” much like the legislation and policies of this government. “In fact, high-efficiency heat pumps are more affordable over the lifetime of the equipment than new gas hookups, meaning Ontario’s decision to reverse the regulator’s decision could actually make housing more expensive.”

Given what I have just shared about the lay of the land around housing in Ontario, the fact that housing starts are down, that housing has never been more affordable, that this provincial government is actively getting in the way of permitting the development of 3,400 affordable housing units in north Waterloo, why would a government overrule this decision when this is the context of the lived experience of Ontarians?

The Minister of Energy was questioned at length about this policy decision, and it goes on to say that he bristled at questions asking if the government was taking control of the regulator, and he said that the OEB decision, which emerged after a year of hearings, thousands of pages of evidence and testimony from environmental advocates, industry representatives and utility experts alike, was simply “wrong.”

Independence of the OEB is key.

Don’t worry; more hot air is coming, more gas is coming. The minister said that they’re now going to come out with a natural gas policy statement to provide further direction to the Ontario Energy Board. That’s not really how it’s supposed to work. The government does not control the independent regulator. The regulator provides information and data and evidence to the Minister of Energy, and that should inform policy—but not in this new Ontario, under this PC government.

They’re going to bring in this policy, and then they’re also going to bring in a new chair of the OEB. This is what the minister said: “I’ll expect the appointee to help ensure the [OEB] conducts appropriate consultation before reaching any decisions, and to reinforce the government’s priority”—essentially, he’s looking for a new chair of the Ontario Energy Board who is like-minded. I raise this characterization, if you will, of “like-minded” because this is a new direction that we have not seen this government go in. The fact that the Premier is bragging about appointing like-minded judges is such a dangerous direction for this province.

Earlier this morning, I did have a chance to meet with the Ontario trial lawyers, and we had a really engaging conversation about the sad state of affairs of our court system in Ontario—the backlogs, not just for the Landlord and Tenant Board, but for victims of sexual assault who are not getting their day in court, and rapists are walking free because that 18-month threshold has not been met.

Ourselves here and my good friend from London North Centre introduced the HVAC—sorry; what was it called?