SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Ontario Assembly

43rd Parl. 1st Sess.
March 21, 2024 09:00AM
  • Mar/21/24 10:50:00 a.m.

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.

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  • Mar/21/24 11:00:00 a.m.

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?

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  • Mar/21/24 11:00:00 a.m.

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.

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  • Mar/21/24 11:10:00 a.m.

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—

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