Life in Ontario continues to get more and more expensive. Families across the province are facing higher grocery prices, higher hydro rates, higher property taxes, and this government continues to fail to act. The government has failed to control hydro prices, and families are paying more. The government has failed to support municipalities, even pushing more and more costs onto them in order to benefit their friends and insiders, and families are paying more. The government has failed to take concrete actions like removing the HST from essentials like home heating, and families are paying more. Medical practices are charging fees for service, and so families are paying more.

There is virtually no area of family budgeting where the increased costs are not directly tied to the actions or inactions of this government, all while this government continues to reward their friends and supporters with contracts, public appointments, regulatory changes to help them earn record profits, often on the backs of taxpayers.

As the government continues to focus on helping their friends and supporters, many families have begun to cut out the little extras they’ve worked so hard for. Too many families have begun to cut back on what many of us would consider to be essentials.

It’s time for the government to put families first and focus on regular everyday Ontarians, not only their friends and supporters.

Thanks to the great member from Niagara for that question this morning. The carbon tax is having a huge impact on families, at the gas tank, at the grocery counter and on inflation that’s affecting everything.

As the member rightly points out, two weeks from today, on Easter Monday, on April Fool’s Day, the federal government is going to be increasing the carbon tax again by a whopping 23%. What does that actually mean? It means, for the average family, members of that member’s riding in Niagara, are going to be facing an extra $366 in carbon taxes just on their home heating bill.

But as I mentioned, it’s going to drive up more than the cost of just the natural gas bill, Mr. Speaker. It’s going to drive up the cost of everything.

We’re opposing it. The NDP are actually opposing it. What are the Liberals doing?

But as Toronto Star intrepid reporter Robert Benzie broke at 10:01 a.m. this morning on X, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, has said that she won’t impose a new provincial carbon tax. But what she didn’t do is say that she’s opposed to the federal carbon tax, the one that’s actually going to rise in two weeks from today by a whopping 23%.

I see the Liberal caucus is huddled here right now trying to figure out what they’re going to do. Are they going to join us? Are they going to join the NDP? Or are they going to sit with the Green Party and their federal cousins and continue with the—

Interjections.

I stand to debate this motion with the knowledge that in Niagara alone 73,000 residents—seniors, young families, everyone—are in search of a family doctor, an increase of 20,000 in just nine months. How can we, as stewards of this province, say we are addressing the emergency room crisis or even claim to mend the gaping wound of primary care scarcity when our primary care providers like Niagara’s family health teams have not seen a base funding increase in over a decade? That means when the government invariably kicks up dirt, points their fingers and says that the problem is out of their control or is inherited. Refusing to increase base funding for the very primary care providers that are in crisis is not about making different choices about Ontario’s health care. It is about choosing to recklessly and dangerously ignore Ontario’s health care.

Our primary care providers are the unsung heroes. When I sat down with our family health teams in Niagara, I saw a committed staff calling out for a supportive primary care system. The message was very crystal clear. They need, we need an urgent strategy to bolster our workforce, allowing these dedicated professionals to focus on treating patients, not paperwork. This is not just about numbers; it’s about people—people suffering because our system fails to prioritize their most basic health needs.

We must act, not tomorrow, not next year, but now. To invest in primary care is to invest in the heart of our communities. Let’s give our family health teams the support they deserve. Let’s build a better and healthier Ontario for all residents.