Thank you to the member opposite. Now, I’m not sure where she was on April 18, 2023, when I joined the Premier and Live Nation at Ontario Place. The entire Queen’s Park press gallery was there and that’s where we showcased the fact that we’re building a new science centre, a water park facility, a wellness facility on the west end, 50 acres of public realm space and a brand new marina, as well as a brand new amphitheatre stage for Live Nation. That is our mission for Ontario Place, and we are under construction today.

Today, we are under construction and we will make sure to bring Ontario Place back to life for the people of Ontario.

I am very excited, because construction is under way at Ontario Place, and finally, after years and years of neglect, the people of Ontario will have a wonderful Ontario Place to enjoy with their families.

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition nailed it: It’s “no, no, no, no” to everything we do, and that’s why we’re in the position we were in when we inherited a bankrupt province five and a half years ago. Let’s move forward now.

We’re putting $184 billion into infrastructure. We’re building $50 billion worth of new hospitals. We’re building the 413 and the Bradford Bypass. We’re adding new doctors; we’re adding new nurses. But guess what? “No, no, no, no.” That’s why we walked into an absolute disaster when we inherited this province.

But guess what? We’re the leaders in the world. We’re an economic powerhouse now. We have $28 billion of EV vehicles being built here in Ontario. We have tens of billions in tech. We have $3 billion when it comes to life sciences. Everyone in the world is talking about Ontario Place.

Thank God you and the Liberals aren’t still in charge. It would be a complete disaster.

Interjections.

Order. I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

Final supplementary.

The Premier.

Minister of Infrastructure.

What they are is a shady government under investigation by the RCMP. That’s what they are, and we won’t forget it.

Speaker, we now know that the Premier has been secretly planning to pave over a portion of Lake Ontario for more than three years. He pushed for a secret deal to hand over public land to a private luxury spa operator for 95 years—95 years. Who does that? Then he changed environmental and integrity laws just to force through his personal vanity project. If that doesn’t smell bad, I don’t know what does.

To the Premier: What are the real plans for Ontario Place, and which of the Premier’s insider friends are set to benefit?

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, let’s go with the NDP and Liberal plan. Let’s leave it just the way it was—weeds growing up; no one’s going to Ontario Place. It just sat absolutely bare. Or let’s go with our plan that’s going to be the number one tourist attraction, not just in Ontario but in Canada. Mark my words.

The ironic thing is, their families, their constituents, guess where they’re going? They’re going to the brand new Ontario Place. Even Therme told me one time, “We build world-class facilities around the world. They roll out the red carpet.” But here in Toronto, with the NDP and the Liberals, it’s a whole different ballgame. They don’t believe in creating anything.

That’s the reason, under their leadership, they chased 300,000 jobs out of this province, made it uncompetitive compared to today. There’s 700,000 people collecting a paycheque, being able to put a deposit down on anything they may want because we are an economic powerhouse, and it kills them. It actually kills them to see we’re thriving as a province—world-class.

I’ve been listening to the Premier and the minister’s non-answers this morning. I can tell you, I was at the government’s press conference in April 2023 and you did not disclose the full vision for Ontario Place. The only reason we know about your plan to pave over a portion of Lake Ontario is because we got it through freedom-of-information requests.

This government had this deal cloaked in secrecy from the beginning, and they refused to release the terms of the 95-year lease. Now they won’t tell anything about what they call phase 2 of the plans for Ontario Place. What else is the Premier keeping secret from the people of Ontario?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to the member.

Again, we held a competitive process in 2019 to bring Ontario Place back to life. In 2021, we partnered—we announced our partners, which are Live Nation and Therme. And in April 2023, the member just admitted that he was at Ontario Place when our government made the announcement where we shared that we would build a new science centre, a wellness water park facility, 50 acres of public realm space, and a brand new amphitheatre and Live Nation stage. The member just admitted that he was there at the announcement. That is our focus now. Our focus is to construct the vision that we shared in April when the member was there with us.

Mr. Speaker, in the new deal, we will be providing operational funding for transit; we will be providing funding for the city of Toronto to keep TTC riders safe. Contingent upon federal funding, we will also be providing funding for our homeless and for shelters.

We’re very proud of the new deal that we landed in the fall and the legislation that was presented before Christmas. And of course, we’re very happy to continue to work with the city of Toronto to bring Ontario Place back to life so that families can enjoy the site once again.

My question is for the Minister of Finance.

Speaker, under the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, businesses left our province in droves. In contrast, under the leadership of our Premier, our government has welcomed record levels of investments, job growth, and businesses.

Unfortunately, the federal government has decided to punish hard-working people and business owners with a regressive carbon tax—a tax that is set to, believe it or not, increase 23% next month. It is not right or fair that people and businesses have to bear an additional cost that is forced on them, especially at a time when all governments need to prioritize affordability.

Can the minister please tell this House what our government is doing to help Ontario families and businesses cope with the high cost of the carbon tax?

When it comes to the negative impact of the carbon tax, everyone shares the same concerns.

While our government continues to keep costs down for the people of Ontario, the federal Liberals remain persistent on their position in hiking this tax. On top of that, their provincial counterparts are in support of this money-grabbing practice.

Under the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, the Liberal members in this House refuse to acknowledge their constituents’ struggles, refuse to bring forward people’s concerns on the carbon tax and refuse to fight against the federal government’s unjust action. That’s not what the people in their ridings elected them to do.

Can the minister please explain, if the independent Liberals won’t help and the federal Liberals won’t listen, what our government is doing to ensure Ontario’s economy continues to thrive and prosper in 2024 and beyond?

Thank you to the member for your question and the great work that you do in the riding of Brantford–Brant.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we heard Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie refuse again to call for an end to the federal Liberal carbon tax. That same Liberal carbon tax is set to increase in Ontario in just under two weeks.

Whether here or in Ottawa, both Liberal Parties are doubling down on making life more expensive and more unaffordable for Ontarians.

But our government is standing up for the people of this great province. This is why we will not stop the work to lower costs, cut taxes and make life more affordable. And that’s why we continue to call on the federal government to do the right thing and finally scrap the tax.

Speaker, on this side of the aisle, we know that things are expensive right now. That’s why we took action to cut the price of gas, to lower the cost of transit and to eliminate tolls right across the province. We are putting billions of dollars back in the pockets of Ontarians. In fact, since we cut the gas tax, we’ve put $2.1 billion in the pockets of Ontarians.

But across the aisle is a Liberal Party who have yet to find a tax they didn’t like to raise. When it comes to cutting the gas tax and saving our drivers money, they voted no. But when it comes to standing up for Ontarians against the federal Liberal carbon tax, their leader made it clear that it wasn’t her problem.

Mr. Speaker, it’s time for Ontario Liberals to decide if they are for Ontario or if they are for an expensive and tax-loving federal government.

La ministre de la Santé.

Supplementary.

The next question, the member for London West.

To reply, the Minister of Colleges and Universities.

Oh, it is indeed a new day at Queen’s Park when the NDP are talking about too much overhead. I’m gobsmacked.

Primary care expansion is something that our government has been focused very directly on, whether it is expanding access through our colleges and universities, whether it is expansions of $110 million, 78 new primary care multidisciplinary teams in the province of Ontario that are going to make an impact, and they’re going to make an impact in northern Ontario, in southern Ontario, in southwestern Ontario. We will continue to get this work done because we know how critically important it is to expand primary care multidisciplinary teams in the province of Ontario.

Speaker, I could go on and on. The point is, we are making those investments in multidisciplinary teams because we know that’s what patients and clinicians deserve, and it provides the best service.

Bonne journée de la Francophonie, monsieur le Président. Ma question est pour le premier ministre.

Un article de Radio-Canada a choqué plusieurs francophones du Nord : le nombre de Nord-Ontariens et Nord-Ontariennes sans médecin de famille pourrait doubler d’ici deux ans. Ça voudrait dire 62 900 personnes sans médecins à Sudbury, Manitoulin et Parry Sound.

Soixante-cinq pour cent des médecins de famille envisagent de quitter ou de changer de pratique dans les cinq prochaines années, principalement dû à la paperasse. Est-ce que le premier ministre va financer les équipes interdisciplinaires et libérer le temps des médecins de famille dans le nord de l’Ontario?

Est-ce que le premier ministre va financer les équipes interdisciplinaires pour améliorer l’accès des gens du Nord, l’accès des francophones du Nord, à des médecins de famille qui peuvent parler français?

Speaker, thank you to the member from Flamborough–Glanbrook for the question today. The federal government continues to increase the carbon tax. We’re in the midst of an affordability crisis in Ontario and across the country. And in spite of the fact that affordability is the number one issue when you talk to people across the country, the federal government is poised to increase that carbon tax by a staggering 23% on April 1.

Now, we want to know where the Ontario Liberal Party stands on this. Earlier this week, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, said that she wouldn’t impose a provincial carbon tax. However, she still hasn’t made it clear whether or not she supports the federal carbon tax.

But do you know who did clarify her position on it yesterday at a press conference, Mr. Speaker? The federal environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, had something to say. I look forward to sharing with the House what the federal environment minister interprets Bonnie Crombie’s position to be.

Now, the provincial Liberal member, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, the leader of the Liberals here in the House, said that she wouldn’t impose a provincial tax, but she didn’t say whether or not she supported the federal Liberal carbon tax. So what did Minister Guilbeault say in a press conference yesterday when asked about Bonnie Crombie’s position on the federal carbon tax? He said, “My understanding of her position is that she would be happy”—happy—“to fall back to the federal system.” That tells me that Bonnie Crombie is supportive—

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. I regularly hear from people in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook about how the federal carbon tax is driving up the cost of living. They know that every April, the Liberals and the NDP will raise the price at the gas pumps with terrible carbon tax hikes. This year, the cost per litre at the gas pump will rise from just over 14 cents to almost 18 cents. This is unacceptable.

Many Ontarians, particularly those in rural communities, rely heavily on their vehicles for work and other day-to-day activities. They are being burdened financially by this harmful tax. Speaker, enough is enough. It’s time for the federal government to end the carbon tax. Can the minister tell the House how the carbon tax affects drivers right across Ontario?

At a time when families across the country are dealing with the high cost of living, all governments should be working together to make life more affordable for everyone. Can the minister tell the House what our government is doing to counteract the impact of this terrible carbon tax?

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, decades of chronic underfunding of post-secondary education by both Liberal and Conservative governments, followed by five years of Conservative cuts, have pushed our post-secondary system to the brink. Ontario is dead last in per-student funding—has been for years—which means larger classes for students, higher faculty workloads, greater reliance on precarious contract faculty and less time for faculty-student contact.

At least 10 universities in this province are already in deficit, and that number is going to grow, despite the government’s disastrous recent funding announcement. My question to the Premier: Will the government commit to the funding necessary to stabilize and preserve our world-class post-secondary system?

Interjections.

Under the leadership of this Premier, we just invested $1.3 billion in post-secondary education, the largest investment in over a decade in post-secondary education. We are giving schools the stability and the predictability that they need, and we are not doing it on the backs of Ontario students.

Mr. Speaker, we are continuing to freeze tuition for an additional three years. Looking back under the Liberal leadership, Ontario had the highest post-secondary education tuition in all of Canada. Under the leadership of this Premier, we decreased tuition by 10% and we have continued to freeze it. We are going to ensure that every student in this province has accessibility and affordability when it comes to post-secondary education.

The minister knows full well that the funding that was announced won’t come close to keeping Ontario’s post-secondary system afloat. And all the while, the clock is ticking on the international student study permits that have been effectively subsidizing our post-secondary system in this province. Colleges and universities are in limbo, unable to plan until they know how the permits will be allocated, leaving students’ futures up in the air. Queen’s and Guelph have already announced program cuts. More programs—even campuses—may have to close.

My question is, does the Premier understand how serious the consequences are of refusing to properly fund our colleges and universities in Ontario?

The supplementary question.

Supplementary question?