Mr. Speaker, here you have it again: absolute NIMBYism everywhere you go. Anywhere this government is trying to build a project, the NDP and the Liberals oppose every single thing that we are doing.

The previous Liberal government—15 years of absolute inaction in this province, doing absolutely nothing to build.

And what does the NDP do when we’re making record and historic investments of over $70 billion in the next 10 years? They’re standing with those who want to protest and stop the building of transit in our communities across Ontario.

The time to build is right now. Our government is getting shovels in the ground. We will take no lessons from the NDP or the previous Liberal government that did absolutely nothing to build infrastructure in this province. That is why we are committed to building $80 billion, over the next 10 years, in public transit and investing close to $30 billion in highways and roads across this province. The people of this province deserve it, and we’ll get those shovels in the ground.

We’re not going to take lessons from the NDP or the Liberals that did nothing for 15 years when it came to building this province.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Supplementary question.

To reply, the Minister of Transportation.

Minister of Transportation.

The Minister of Transportation has a few extra seconds to finish up his answer.

We have with us in the Legislature a former member who was here for many years as the member for Leeds–Grenville: Bob Runciman. Welcome back to the Legislature. It’s great to see you here. Your timing, as always, is perfect.

We’ve long had a convention in this House that we don’t make reference to the absence of a member who might be away for any given reason from the House on any given day. I don’t think it’s a road we want to go down where we start drawing attention to whether or not members are attending a sufficient number of community events. I think if we give that some thought, we’ll conclude that that’s not a good road that we want to go down—if we think it through.

Start the clock. The next question.

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. I’m glad that my predecessor Senator Runciman is here, because I know he agrees with this question.

Speaker, there is fierce competition across the globe to attract and retain skilled, talented workers. We know affordability issues are a big consideration when workers are deciding where they should call home. That’s why, as a government, we’ve taken concrete action to do our part to lower costs for households.

But unfortunately, the Liberals are proceeding with hiking their carbon tax on April 1. Their carbon tax is going to see the price of gas increase by 37 cents a litre in 2030 while home-heating costs skyrocket. It’s almost like they’re deliberately trying to hurt the pocketbooks of hard-working families and chase those talented workers out of our province. It’s a shame that the Liberals in this House still support the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax hurts the Ontario workers that are powering our economy?

We all know that the carbon tax is a tax on every single family, on every single worker in Ontario. We have the best talent pool in the world. We’re better educated than any OECD country: 71% of Ontarians have a post-secondary degree, 70,000 annual STEM grads, 420,000 tech workers, 100,000 auto workers, 85,000 AI workers, 72,000 life sciences workers. Our economy needs these workers, but the carbon tax hurts them and the carbon tax risks chasing all of them away. We need to axe the tax.

The Liberals need to stop making it harder for these companies to expand and to grow. They need to scrap the tax today.

Supplementary question.

The Attorney General.

The supplementary question.

To reply, the Premier.

Back to the minister: I want to thank him for his answer. I think we can all agree that the talent we have in Ontario is second to none. As economies across the world grapple with aging populations that are exiting their workforce, the race for talent is going to heat up. It has never been more important for us to foster the conditions to retain and to attract skilled workers. That’s why we’ve been so adamant as a government in our efforts to put more money back into the pockets of hard-working Ontarians who have earned it.

The Liberals want to do the opposite with their carbon tax. They want to take more money out of people’s pockets with a carbon tax hike every single solitary year. We’ve never supported the Liberal tax grab, and I can assure everyone in this House that, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we will never support the carbon tax.

Can the minister please highlight how the carbon tax jeopardizes the progress that we’ve made in key sectors?

My question is to the Minister of Health. Yan Ping Ye lives in the Chinatown area, and she doesn’t have a family doctor. After not sleeping and feeling dizzy for four days, she had no choice but to go to the Toronto Western emergency room, one of the busiest hospitals in Ontario. Yan waited seven hours overnight, but eventually left without a prescription or help because there was no one in the emergency room who spoke Cantonese or Mandarin, and Yan is not fluent in English.

Minister, do you think it’s acceptable that thousands of people in the Chinatown area have to go to an emergency room for non-urgent care because they don’t have access to a family doctor?

The family doctor shortage in Toronto is bad and it is getting worse. In Chinatown, five doctors have already retired and two more are about to retire, which means over 7,000 people are going to be without a family doctor.

I am worried that this government is driving the primary health care system into the ground.

Minister, what is your plan to address the worsening family doctor and primary care provider shortage in underserved areas like Chinatown?

This government is relentless. If there isn’t a ready-made opportunity, they will create a way to insert their friends and insiders into every public good in Ontario. They did it with the greenbelt. They did it with Ontario Place. They did it with ServiceOntario. And now they’re putting their own former Conservative staffers into the judicial system.

My question is for the Premier. How can Ontarians trust a court that has been overtly and intentionally poisoned with blatant political bias?

Interjections.

Trust in our judicial system is absolutely key to the functioning of our democracy. One only needs to look to our neighbours to the south to see where the politicization of justice leads.

How could the Attorney General possibly think that this overt and blatant politicization of our judicial system won’t erode that trust—unless that is the endgame.

Interjections.

I just want to cast back to last year, when the member from Oakville North–Burlington brought a motion forward on Keira’s Law, saying that we should require that judges take mandatory training, as they come to the bench, and JPs take mandatory training, as they take their positions, on sexual assault and sexual violence. Do you know what happened with that motion? It was unanimously supported by this House, Mr. Speaker. When we then incorporated Keira’s Law into the Strengthening Safety and Modernizing Justice Act, 2023, everybody in the House spoke in favour of that piece of legislation.

When we talk about diversity and we want to increase the diversity of the bench, people say, “Absolutely, you need to do that.” And when we talk about raising awareness of victims’ perspectives and issues, people say, “Absolutely.” And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker—you know where this is going—when we say we want to have tough-on-crime judges and JPs, the House says, “Oh, no, no. We can’t have a perspective.” Well, we do have a—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, let’s just go back 15 years. The Liberal government was the weakest government when it came to crime.

They’re okay with people kicking the doors in, putting guns to people’s heads, asking for their keys, terrifying the neighbourhood, terrifying people. We’re seeing it everywhere. And guess what happens, Mr. Speaker? They get out on bail the next day to go and do it again. And then what happens? They go out on bail again.

My great Sikh community up there that I absolutely love, they’re being extorted because these people are threatening their families, shooting up the streets if they don’t pay money. Because when we catch the people, they get out on bail, and then they get targeted again.

Everywhere I go, Mr. Speaker, I’m hearing one thing: “Keep going. Make sure you appoint judges that are tough on crime, that are going to throw the criminals in jail that are terrorizing our neighbourhoods.”

The supplementary question.

Interjections.

Start the clock.

Once again, I’ll remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

The next question.

My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care. When I speak to my residents in the great riding of Newmarket–Aurora, they continue to express their top concern, which is over the ever-escalating costs of living. At a time when all communities need to be supported, the federal government continues to penalize the people of Ontario by hiking the carbon tax.

As our parents and grandparents age, the cost of building long-term-care homes remains high, and the carbon tax is making it worse. Seniors helped build our province, and our government must ensure that they continue to receive the quality of care and the quality of life that they need and deserve in a long-term-care home.

Can the minister please tell this House what our government is doing to protect Ontario families, especially our seniors, from the negative impact of the carbon tax?

While our government has been speaking out against the carbon tax since day one, the opposition NDP and the independent Liberals continue to ignore the harmful impact this tax is having on Ontario families. Despite the inaction and the lack of the sense of urgency from the opposition, we will continue to uphold our commitment to seniors in Ontario and ensure we build homes in the communities they helped build.

Can the minister please further explain how the carbon tax is affecting the long-term-care sector?

Speaker, the member is absolutely right: Seniors did build this province and our community, so happy International Women’s Day to the many women seniors who live in our long-term-care homes. Thank you for everything that you’ve done.

I hear that concern the member raises every day in Willowdale. It’s exactly why our government embarked on a historic plan—a historic plan, led by this Premier, to build 58,000 new and upgraded spaces, the most aggressive capital plan in this country’s history. But there are challenges, and one of the biggest challenges is the cost of doing business and building, a cost that will rise, thanks to the federal Liberals’ carbon tax, 23% in the very near future.

Our government is fighting to keep costs low, fighting to build Ontario. But right now, when we are trying to build the homes for seniors to age in comfort and dignity, the carbon tax is standing in the way. Every time we try and make it easier to build, the Liberals and the NDP get in the way. I challenge them to stand up and do the right thing. Let’s scrap—

Unfortunately, the Liberals, led by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, wants to do what she did in Mississauga: She wants to stop building everywhere. I’ve heard from workers, I’ve heard from lenders, I’ve heard from the operators, and they are saying that this tax on everything is costing Ontario’s long-term-care sector. It costs more to build. It costs more to take care of our seniors. It costs more to get equipment to our seniors. Costs have risen 30% in only five years.

This Premier will continue to fight for the hard-working people, the seniors who built our communities. We’re not taking any lessons from the heckle party over there. We’re getting it done—

Interjections.

Everything that our government is doing is prioritizing the patient. Whether it is expanding scope of practice for clinicians who are already trained and ready to step up and do additional work, like pharmacists, like nurse practitioners, like registered nurses, we are working directly with them.

And I would say, when we have historic investments of $110 million in 78 primary care expansions, including one in the member’s own region of a nurse practitioner-led clinic, we are making those investments.

Will the member opposite stand up, support those expansions, support that nurse practitioner-led clinic that is going to be able to expand and offer new services and additional patients in your region?

My question is to the Minister of Health. For years, the Ontario Medical Association has been sounding the alarm on the shortage of doctors in the province. In Kitchener, there are currently 55 open physician positions on the provincial recruitment program.

The KW chamber of commerce has said, “There are somewhere between 60,000 and 70,000 people in Waterloo region right now who don’t have ... a ... doctor.”

Kitchener is not alone; there are 2.2 million Ontarians who do not have a family doctor, and that number is going to surge to 4.4 million by 2026.

Speaker, my question to the Minister of Health: When will this government prioritize the patients and families waiting for care in Waterloo region.

A shortage of doctors causes more people to visit the emergency room, increasing wait times and putting further financial strain on this already overburdened health care.

KW is not alone; there are currently 32,000 people in Peterborough alone without a family doctor, another 28,000 in Kingston, another 10,000 in Sault Ste. Marie. This Conservative government is failing to provide Ontarians with access to primary care that they definitely deserve.

Back to the Minister of Health: When will this government finally address the crisis in Ontario and the 2.2 million people who do not have access to a family doctor?

To the member across the aisle, why does she always vote against the increase of $20 billion more we’re spending on health care, compared to when they were in power? Why did she vote against the 10,800 more doctors that are working now than there were five years ago? Why did she vote against the 80,000 nurses that have registered to work in Ontario, 17,000 alone? Why did you vote against the medical universities? We’re building capacity in Brampton and in Scarborough and up north. Why didn’t she vote for more grads and undergrads?

That party, under the Liberals with support of the NDP, cut seats. I’m just wondering. She votes against health care. We’re making health care a lot better than it was five years ago. We’re going to continue increasing the spend when it comes to health care, but obviously, you don’t care, because you vote against every—

My question is to the Solicitor General. In 2023, Toronto recorded close to 4,000 residential break-ins, a 30% increase from 2022. Torontonians are anxious about the rise of crime and its traumatic effect on victims who are left feeling vulnerable and violated when they deserve to feel safe in the private sanctuary of their homes.

Speaker, people are also frustrated that convicted criminals serve their time in jail only to resurface in the community to reoffend. They demand immediate action in establishing successful deterrents to crime, from the certainty of being caught to the consequences imposed upon criminals.

Speaker, can the Solicitor General explain this government’s approach to deter crime?

Interjection: Hire a gun lobbyist, right?

Order.

The Solicitor General can reply.

The Minister of Health.

The supplementary question? The member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas.

Thank you so much to the Solicitor General for his response.

Speaker, punishment alone may be viewed as an appropriate deterrent, but long-term solutions include the rehabilitation of criminals to motivate them to become contributing members of society. It is essential that criminals receive job training to equip them with the skills they need to work for a living rather than surviving by exploiting others.

Speaker, can the Solicitor General tell this House what steps this government is taking to break the cycle of opportunistic crime in our communities?