Meegwetch, Speaker. Remarks in Anishininiimowin.

Neskantaga First Nation is coming on its 30th year with a boil-water advisory. That is 10,641 days. Once again, tomorrow is World Water Day. In the riding of Kiiwetinoong, I have 14 First Nations that have boil-water advisories.

Speaker, it is racism to do nothing. Next week’s budget is an opportunity for change. I ask, will there be any allocations for money to lifting boil-water advisories on reserves?

Interjections.

I appreciate the question from the member opposite. Look, I can’t confirm anything that will be in the budget. The member will have to wait until next Tuesday for the details of the budget.

At the same time, I know that the minister has continued to work very closely with our federal partners. As you know, Mr. Speaker, the federal government made a commitment to First Nations back in 2015 that they would provide the necessary funding to remove all boil-water advisories across the country. That is a promise that has still not been kept by the federal government. We will continue to hold their feet to the fire to make sure that we can get this promise, not only for First Nations, frankly, across the province of Ontario, but I think all First Nations across the country who are relying on the federal government to live up to this promise back in 2015.

I’m happy to repeat myself again: In 2019, we did a call for development where we encouraged people to participate in the process. In 2021, we picked our partners, which are Therme and Live Nation, and in April of 2023, we presented the whole vision of Ontario Place, which included a brand new stage, 50 acres of public realm space, wellness facility and water park provided by Therme and a brand new science centre.

We have been fully transparent with the public throughout this entire process. We have consulted with close to 10,000 people throughout this process. But again, what is most important is that a site that was forgotten about by the Liberal government will now come to life and be a site that families and Ontarians can enjoy for generations to come.

The Liberals closed the site—of course, there’s Trillium Park, but the rest of the site is deteriorating, is flooding, to the degree that Live Nation actually had to close down their shows in 2017. And that is acceptable to the NDP. It is not acceptable to us.

We have a vital asset on the waterfront that is not being used. We are building attractions on the site so that families can enjoy the site once again.

We have kept the public apprised of this project the whole way. We have spoken about this project almost on a daily basis in the Legislature, and we will continue to keep the public apprised of our project. In fact, we just wrapped up a consultation with marina operators. We are planning on rebuilding and revitalizing the marina, making it a more inclusive marina. We have every intention to bring food and beverage on the site, because we know families with children need to have a drink and they need to have food for their children and have ice cream on the site. And that is how we are proceeding, Mr. Speaker.

Interjections.

The minister’s timeline keeps changing, and that’s what happens when you make major infrastructure decisions in the shadows and the backrooms.

The government had already decided on this plan more than a year and a half before they announced that Therme won the contract. The documents we uncovered appeared to show the undisclosed attraction plan for Ontario Place has the exact same footprint as Therme’s proposal—quite a coincidence.

So, Speaker, did the government give preferential treatment to Therme for its luxury spa proposal?

Last year, the Premier confirmed that his family friend Carmine Nigro was negotiating a mysterious sole-source agreement with Ontario Live. Ontario Live happens to be run by another family friend, Zlatko Starkovski. What is the relationship between the secret Ontario Live agreement and the secret phase 2 plan for Ontario Place?

People shouldn’t have to make freedom-of-information requests to find out about a major infrastructure project happening with their money. People shouldn’t need a chart of the Premier’s friends and family to find out who is securing sole-source contracts.

We need this Premier and this minister to come clean about this project. So to what extent were these deals made to benefit the Premier and his personal friends?

How can this shady deal proceed considering this government is already under investigation by the RCMP?

Interjections.

The final supplementary.

I’m going to caution the Leader of the Opposition on her choice of words.

To reply, the Minister of Infrastructure.

Government House leader.

Speaker, tomorrow is World Water Day, March 22, and we have many people here in the gallery who have travelled from the Lake Simcoe area. They, along with the Chippewas of Georgina Island, are very concerned with the health of this beloved lake. We have a majority government. There are five Lake Simcoe area Conservative MPPs, including the Minister of the Environment, in this area. There’s existing legislation dating back to 2008, and yet, we have seen no action in cleaning up the phosphorus issues in Lake Simcoe.

This budget, the Conservative budget, is coming next week. Will the Premier finally adequately—adequately—fund the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan, yes or no?

Interjections.

I really welcome the member’s interest in this file. This government has been interested in protecting Lake Simcoe from day one. For instance, there’s this historic project to take five tonnes of phosphorus per year out of the Holland Marsh, thanks to the actions of this Premier and this government. A project that was on the books for decades that wasn’t getting done, this government is getting done.

Work is already under way, Speaker. This is a great project for the watershed, a great project for the jewel of Lake Simcoe. This builds on the millions of dollars of investments in the lake, to date. We’re working with partners like the Lake Simcoe conservation authority and the St. Lawrence River institute, amongst many other partners, in terms of reducing chloride levels, reducing phosphorus and making sure we have a great state-of-the-art lake for generations to come.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. Constituents in my riding are telling me that they can’t afford the Liberal carbon tax, and the last thing they need is another Liberal carbon tax.

Interjections.

Speaker, can the minister please tell this House why it’s time to scrap the carbon tax?

As the federal Liberals continue reaching into the pockets of taxpayers with more and more tax hikes, we need the opposition parties—the Liberals and the NDP—to help us fight the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain why Ontario families simply cannot afford this unfair carbon tax imposed upon us by the queen of the carbon—

By the same numbers, what the member is saying is that 17,337 seniors went from being ALC patients in hospitals to being residents in long-term care. Speaker, that’s 17,000 more beds in hospitals for more acute care. That’s 17,000 seniors who get to call a home a home, because it is this government that is investing into these homes, not just by building more capacity, but making sure that they have a level of comfort that they deserve.

Interjections.

Guess what? This morning, the cameras must be on because the member stands in his place and he claims to be a defender of seniors. But in his own riding, Oakwood Manor, Crescent Manor, Radiant Care Pleasant Manor Long-Term Care—it’s a long list and thousands of beds. The member votes against building beds in his own riding, against supports for beds in his own riding.

You want to give an apology? You should apologize to the seniors of this province for not protecting them before the pandemic hit.

Interjections.

Members will please take their seats.

To reply, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Supplementary question.

The supplementary question.

Interjections.

And once again, I will remind members to make their comments through the Chair.

Start the clock. Next question.

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, we recently learned that nearly 300 seniors in Ontario have been moved from hospitals to long-term-care homes that they didn’t choose. Under Bill 7, patients can be sent to a long-term-care facility up to 150 kilometres away from their homes without their consent or be charged $400 a day if they refuse. These are our moms, our dads, our grandparents, our aunts, our uncles—the people who built this great province.

Speaker, why is this government choosing to force almost 300 vulnerable seniors to be moved without their consent away from their homes and their families?

As that minister stands up and talks about people leaving our hospitals, let’s not forget about the 6,000 seniors who lost their lives during COVID and the government responsible is now taking away their families’ ability to have a home accountable.

This government is giving away licence extensions—think about this—to the very same private for-profit homes where the Canadian military had to be called in to save these residents from dehydration.

They then passed Bill 7 without holding public hearings, preventing families from commenting on the devastating impacts of this legislation. This government refuses to treat seniors and long-term-care residents with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Speaker, will this government repeal Bill 7, apologize to those 300 families and finally show seniors the respect they deserve and have earned in the province of Ontario?

Thanks to the member from Essex, who is doing an outstanding job representing his residents in southwestern Ontario, where we’re actually seeing growth happen at a record pace, Mr. Speaker, and that’s in spite of the regressive carbon tax that’s being imposed on the people of Ontario and the people of Canada by the federal Liberal government.

Now, the member of the Liberal Party is saying, “Well, you opened the door for this by getting rid of the cap-and-trade.” We campaigned in 2018, Mr. Speaker, to cap taxes and to trade Kathleen Wynne, and we were very, very successful in doing that, with a massive majority government, and then won another one four years later.

As a result, we went from being the most uncompetitive jurisdiction in North America in the eyes of the global auto sector to a jurisdiction that is now seeing multi-billion-dollar investments like ones in Essex and in Windsor, ones in St. Thomas, in Loyalist township and right across Ontario. In spite of this regressive tax, we’ve been able to return Ontario to its rightful place—

And the queen of the carbon tax, the leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario, is hand in hand with Justin Trudeau championing this increase when the people of Ontario and the people of Canada are hurting, Mr. Speaker. We disagree. We disagree wholeheartedly with this approach by the federal government.

We have cut taxes. We’ve reduced taxes. We’ve eliminated fees. We brought in things like One Fare in our transit system across the greater Toronto and Hamilton area. That’s going to save people $1,600 a year. This is what a responsible government should be doing, working for the people, not against them.

Listen, it’s clear to me that the Liberals still have not caught on, right? This is coming from a party whose leader had the amazing responsibility of building homes but saw the population of her community, under her leadership, actually decline. She really knocked it out of the park with those two housing starts that she had in the month when she left office, right—two housing starts. Not only did she not even come close to meeting her target, she actually saw people fleeing her jurisdiction.

The only reason Mississauga is doing as well as they are is because of the members of provincial Parliament from this caucus, who have been focused on jobs and economic growth, bringing investments to that community. We have been bringing forward measures to help build housing supply across the province of Ontario. It is becoming increasingly clear to us, working with our municipal partners, that the thing they want is for us to get out of the way and help them get infrastructure in the ground.

Today’s announcement will do just that. We’ll put infrastructure in the ground and homes will be built.

The government’s underfunding of education has led to an explosion in the use of portables at Ontario schools. This band-aid solution has become so widespread that new schools are opening with portables already in the yard.

Parents and teachers have raised concerns about the conditions in portables: mould, poor ventilation, heating problems, the lack of bathrooms. Does the Minister of Education share these concerns, and will he provide adequate funding for school construction and repairs so that portables can go back to being a temporary fix instead of a permanent fixture?

The conditions in portables aren’t just about health and safety. They also affect learning outcomes. Research shows that the more portables a school has, the lower its test scores in math, reading and writing. If the minister really wants to boost test scores in Ontario, he should increase capital funding so that schools no longer need to use portables. Will we see an increase in next week’s budget, or is the minister’s back-to-basics commitment all talk?

I thank the member opposite for the question. I think one thing that she and I could agree with is that the former government left a profoundly devastating impact after closing 600 schools in rural Ontario—unacceptable, and families paid the price.

In sharp contrast to their dereliction of duty, the Premier and our party has invested over $15 billion over a decade to build net new schools. Mr. Speaker, I’m proud to report that 100 schools are being built as we speak, 200 more in the pipeline. We have invested in every single budget—invested over $550 million to build schools. Literally thousands of additional spaces have been created as well as thousands of additional child care spaces within schools.

We’re committed to going even further, which is why, in December, we announced a plan to slash construction timelines by half, to build faster and smarter and get the job done for growing communities across the province.

And it’s not just about the money. Yes, we’ve hired 3,000 more teachers and 7,500 more additional education workers. It’s not just about the money. It’s about getting value for dollars. It’s why we passed the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act, to elevate our standards and demand better for the people we represent. “Back to basics” is more than a hashtag. It is focused on foundational learning, on reading, writing, math and STEM disciplines.

I would hope the members opposite wouldn’t trivialize the necessity of building the skills to ensure every child succeeds, owns a home, gets a good job and achieves the promise of this country.

Minister of Transportation.

The next question.

The member is absolutely right. When we look at the north, the challenges are even more significant when it comes to the carbon tax. But it’s no surprise that the Liberals and the NDP are not listening to the people. They’re out of touch. Just a couple of weeks ago, it was a federal Liberal environment minister, who is now trying to impose this 23% increase of carbon taxes on the people of the north and across Canada and especially in Ontario—he was the one who said, “No more roads,” and that Canada doesn’t need any more roads. How out of touch can you be?

But on top of that, now they want to increase the carbon tax by 23%. That’s a tax on food. It’s a tax on groceries. It’s a tax on fuel, on energy, on heating your home. People cannot afford it. I hope that the provincial Liberals and the NDP step up right to the federal government and tell them to scrap the tax.

This is going to hurt not only truckers, who are out $15,000 to $20,000—they could use that money to support their families, put their kids through school, put their kids in extracurricular activities—but think of the people in the north, how much their food is going to increase, because that food travels on trucks. A 23% increase being proposed by the federal government, it’s unbelievable.

What’s more shameful, Mr. Speaker, is the provincial Liberals and the NDP are doing nothing to advocate to stop the carbon tax from going up 23%. Under the leadership—

Mr. Speaker, this morning the Premier showed his true colours when it comes to building affordable housing. This Premier doesn’t care about getting people housed in homes they can afford.

Just this morning, while standing in front of massive single-family homes that the majority of Ontarians can’t even dream of affording, he completely ruled out allowing four units as of right in communities across the province. Such units would supply more housing to families, renters, students, downsizing seniors and anyone else struggling to find an affordable place to live in their community. After today’s revelations, will the Premier finally admit that he doesn’t actually care about building affordable housing?

I can see the minister is very angry, and there are a lot of reasons to be angry when you think about the Liberals, especially the federal Liberals. You know something I’m angry about, Speaker, and people of my community are equally angry about it, and it’s the federal carbon tax. It’s leading us to soaring fuel prices, making it unaffordable for everyone—tough to even drive a car. People have to think twice about driving a car in my riding now and ridings across northern Ontario.

It’s unfair to every driver in this province, especially those in the north who rely very heavily on their vehicles, just so that they can go to work every day, run errands, take their kids to soccer practice. All of these things are just too expensive because of the federal Liberals and their provincial counterparts who refuse to change this awful position on the carbon tax and are constantly hurting northern communities. We continue to take leadership on addressing affordability in this province to help the north get the help it deserves.

Can the Minister of Transportation please tell us how the carbon tax is hurting northern Ontario communities with this regressive, terrible—

It’s unacceptable. It’s breaking the backs of common, hard-working Ontarians, northern Ontarians. And the Liberals across the aisle, they just want to sit silent. I guess it’s because their leader is one of the only Liberals left in the entire country of Canada who will not speak out against this terrible carbon tax and the additional nearly triple—triple, again—they want to increase it.

Can the minister please explain to us how this negative tax is hurting the people of our province?

The former leader of the Liberal Party came in front of a committee that this House had brought forward and said that the housing crisis started under the previous Liberal government. You know why? Because of red tape, because of high costs that stifle the ability to build more homes. And now we’re seeing the exact same thing: They’re supporting high interest rates because of their federal cousins—high interest rates which are making it impossible to build more homes and puts many people, thousands of people, out of the market for those new homes.

Working with our municipal partners, we have heard one thing over and over and over again: The infrastructure deficit that was left behind by the previous Liberal government is stopping them from building the hundreds, the millions of homes that are needed. So while we will continue to work with our municipal partners, we’ll actually give them the tools they need to build not hundreds of homes but millions of homes, and that’s what today’s announcement—