I recognize the member from Mississauga–Lakeshore.

Word for word.

—word for word, yes. And with today’s motion, we are asking the House to not only vote in favour of it but to fast-track it.

Let’s get something done for the people of Ontario. Let’s spend their tax dollars responsibly.

I listened closely to the debate this afternoon on opposition day motion number 3. As the parliamentary assistant to the President of the Treasury Board, I appreciate the opportunity to respond on behalf of our government.

I also appreciate the motion’s reference to $17.4 million in partisan advertising under the former Liberal government. As some members will recall, the Auditor General, at the time, concluded that the Liberal government’s advertising campaigns on everything from hydro rates and cap-and-trade to education and retirement were not just partisan, but they “did not provide viewers with any useful information.” Often, she concluded that the Liberal government’s ads were actually misleading. For example, the Wynne government spent over $8 million on ads for their proposed retirement plan that never actually came into effect. As the Auditor General wrote, these ads often “overlapped with Ontario Liberal Party ads,” and they went on air in 2015, during a federal election campaign that included disagreements between Premier Wynne and Prime Minister Harper.

When this government was elected, we cut provincial spending on advertising by about 75%, from $62.6 million in 2017-18 to $16.4 million in 2018-19.

But all members should recognize that the government’s advertising can also play an important role in informing the public about policies and services that affect their everyday lives. This was never more clear than during the pandemic. And I’m sure I don’t have to remind the members about the early days of COVID-19, four years ago.

With the pandemic behind us, as I begin my remarks, I want to give members another more recent example. Opposition day motion number 3 says that the Auditor General found that the government spent “$24.89 million on partisan ad campaigns, including $20 million to promote the Ministry of Health.” But this includes ads with very important information about new programs and services, including, for example, allowing pharmacists to treat people for 19 common conditions like acne, pink eye, and yeast infections. Since the beginning of last year, over 700,000 people have received treatment at 4,600 pharmacies, and that’s 94% of all pharmacies in Ontario. Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, said that this policy is having a “tremendous impact,” making it easier for Ontarians to get the care they need. It’s helping to free up family doctors and hospitals so they can deal with more complex conditions. This has been a great success, but it never would have been possible without government advertising to ensure that the people know about the new policies and the new services available at their local pharmacies.

Just in case the members opposite missed it, the Auditor General actually included one of the government’s ads about this program on the cover of her annual review of government advertising in December 2023.

The Leader of the Opposition’s motion claims that the Auditor General found this was a partisan campaign to promote the Ministry of Health, but respectfully, this wasn’t a partisan campaign, and the Auditor General did not find that it was. She actually wrote the opposite. On page 3 of her review, she wrote that most of the health care ads she reviewed included “new information about health care services.” The goal was not to promote the Ministry of Health, but to educate and inform the public about the important new health care services.

Speaker, at this point, I believe it would be helpful for all members to provide some background on the legislation, regulation and policies that govern all provincial advertising in Ontario so that we can all understand what is permitted and what it is not.

Let’s start at the beginning. My ministry, the Treasury Board Secretariat, is responsible for the Government Advertising Act. TBS is also responsible for the bulk media buy fund. And finally, Supply Ontario, an agency of TBS, is responsible for the procurement directive on advertising, public and media relations, and creative communication services.

The Government Advertising Act defines government advertising as advertising paid for by a government office, including ads that are published in a newspaper or magazine, displayed on a billboard or on public transit, displayed digitally, or broadcast on radio or TV or in a movie theatre.

Speaker, let me be clear: Governments of all parties have paid for advertising to educate the public about new programs, plans, services or policies. It is important that the people of Ontario know what the government is doing, especially when there are changes to programs and services or changes to their rights and responsibilities.

Advertising can also be used to encourage behaviour in the public interest or to discourage behaviour that may be harmful, and to promote our province as the best place in the world to invest, live and work—“A place to stand, a place to grow.” Do you remember, Speaker—some members may not—that this piece of government advertising, which was produced by the government of John Robarts, actually won an Academy Award in 1968?

This isn’t a partisan issue. All governments have good reasons for advertising in Ontario that are a prudent and responsible use of the public purse. For example, recent provincial advertising has educated people about actions you can take to prepare for emergencies and the importance of improving accessibility. It has also promoted Ontario as a tourist destination for people outside the province and for people outside Canada.

The Government Advertising Act includes very tight restrictions on the content of these government ads to ensure they do not benefit any politician or political party. Some members might benefit from a review of these rules. Section 6 of the act prevents any advertising that includes the name, voice or image of a member of this House unless the main audience is outside Ontario. Ads that include the name or logo of a recognized party are not allowed, and neither is criticism of any recognized party or any member of this House. The act even prevents the use of colours associated with the governing party.

Speaker, without even a single exception, this government has followed these rules. The Auditor General has reviewed our ads, as required by the act, and confirmed that they all comply with the rules.

The government has also ensured that our advertising is delivered in the most efficient and cost-effective way to maximize value for taxpayers. It is important for us to understand this process. When any ministry requests advertising, there is a comprehensive approval process. It begins with the fiscal planning process that I spoke about earlier this month. Line ministries create advertising proposals with the timing, content and budget for their proposed ad campaigns. Then, the Cabinet Office plans and develops all advertising for the year, including a central marketing plan, with contributions from all line ministries. Members can imagine the coordination that this takes, but it is necessary to prevent ministries from competing with each other when buying media time, in order to get the best value for our tax dollars. In today’s media environment, it is absolutely necessary to avoid a situation where there are too many government ads at any given time.

Cabinet Office also helps to find similar priorities between ministries and avoid duplication in our ads, which generates savings for the province. The central marketing plan allocates funds from the bulk media buy account, based on the needs of the line ministries. However, as we saw during the pandemic, sometimes new and urgent advertising campaigns are proposed during the fiscal year, and these are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. I want to thank my friend Michelle DiEmanuele and her team at the Cabinet Office for all the work they do on this every year, including work with our team at the Treasury Board, to ensure that funding is available from the bulk media buy fund.

Earlier, I mentioned Supply Ontario. I want to take a moment to outline their important role in this process as well. As the new home for the procurement of provincial advertising, Supply Ontario maintains lists of approved vendors for advertising, to help promote openness, fairness and transparency. Every vendor that we use must be on one of these lists. And for larger ad campaigns, these vendors are invited to bid in a competitive procurement. This is done to ensure that every campaign and every ad meets all government requirements.

As I mentioned earlier, the Auditor General also has an important role in this process. Sections 4 and 5 of the Government Advertising Act require the government to submit most ads to the Auditor General for review and approval before they can be used. There have been several cases when the Auditor General found ads had to be changed in order to comply with the act. But in each and every case, the minister made the required changes, and the new ads were approved. At this point, the minister can begin their campaign. Paid media space is purchased through the provincial media-buying agency of record. This agency of record is clearly checked to ensure it maintains the highest standards of ethics and professionalism. Once the campaign is complete, the minister prepares a request for funding from the bulk media buy fund of the TBS, which supports the purchase of media time, creative research and production costs, to pay for provincial government advertising, while ensuring value for money.

Speaker, I want to raise a small but important point here. While the bulk media buy fund supports most expenses for government advertising, there are also a limited number of revenue-generating ad programs that are funded outside the bulk media buy fund. This includes advertising related to Ontario Parks or provincial tourist attractions or events, plus the advertising of provincial agencies like the LCBO, Metrolinx, and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. These organizations oversee, conduct, procure and pay for their own advertising. Just to take one example, Metrolinx has a campaign now to raise awareness of the One Fare program, which is saving commuters an average of $1,600 each year. However, all other advertising is reviewed by TBS. Any related financial documents are submitted to TBS, including every relevant invoice. The Treasury Board carefully examines all requests for government advertising funds based on the relevant legislation and policy. If approved, transfers from the fund are made by the Treasury Board.

Speaker, this process is not unique to Ontario. In fact, the centralized management of government advertising budgets is consistent with best practices in large organizations and governments around the world.

As I said, each and every advertising campaign has been subject to the same rules, and these rules have been followed without any exception.

At this point, I would like to provide some details about some of the advertising campaigns that we have funded, about how they all have an important, non-partisan purpose, and about how they follow all of the legislation and regulations that govern all provincial advertising.

Speaker, as we have said many times before, the health and safety of the people of Ontario is the government’s highest priority.

Some members will recall returning to the House on this day, four years ago, to listen to Minister Rod Phillips speak about Ontario’s first action plan on COVID-19. There was confusion everywhere. Many people didn’t know where to turn for information they could trust. For this reason, some of this government’s most important advertising campaigns were about urgent public health and safety information for all Ontarians. I’m very proud of the government’s record on this. Provincial advertising helped Ontarians understand how vaccines would stop the spread of COVID-19, and it helped us achieve one of the highest vaccination rates in the entire world. At the time, we were asked to provide proof of vaccination to enter certain buildings and events. As the members will recall, to make the process easier, we launched enhanced vaccination certificates with official QR codes and Verify Ontario, a free made-in-Ontario app, to make it more convenient to provide proof of vaccination while also protecting privacy. This was about keeping people safe. But for sure, for most Ontarians, it was a completely new experience, so public advertising was essential. Again, all of this advertising was reviewed and fully approved. And the results speak for themselves: This advertising helped to keep people safe during the pandemic.

But it is also important to make sure that the people of Ontario know that their government is working for them to build a stronger, better health care system. Ontarians deserve to know exactly how their tax dollars are being spent. That’s why there was an ad campaign to inform the public about the province’s work to hire more doctors and nurses, reduce surgical wait times, and support new hospital infrastructure projects. I know the members opposite don’t like hearing this, but the numbers are worth repeating, because under this Premier, Ontario has a great story to tell. Provincial spending on health care and long-term care has increased from $59 billion in 2017-18 to $81 billion this year; that’s an increase of 40%.

As I said here just last week in our debate on the Supply Act, in my community of Mississauga–Lakeshore, funding for Trillium Health Partners has increased from $821 million in 2018 to $1.2 billion this year; that’s an increase of almost 50% in five years.

We’re investing over $48 billion in the largest hospital building program in Canadian history, with the largest and most advanced hospital to be built in my riding of Mississauga–Lakeshore.

We’re also investing $6.4 billion to build and upgrade almost 60,000 long-term-care beds—the largest long-term-care building program in our history.

Last November, I helped open the largest long-term-care home in Ontario, for 632 residents in my community, at Wellbrook Place. We do everything big in Mississauga–Lakeshore. And again, with 632 long-term-care beds—that’s more than the former Liberal government built from 2011 to 2018, in just one location.

And since 2018, we have added 10,400 new doctors and over 80,000 new nurses to the health care system across the province.

Madam Speaker, these are the facts. It is absolutely essential that all Ontarians understand the investments that their government is making in our public health care system. When some members of the opposition say that the government is starving our health care system, it is important that Ontarians understand that this simply isn’t true.

Again, these ad campaigns have followed the strict approvals process that I’ve already outlined.

The Ministry of Health is not the only ministry that uses advertising to inform the public. The Minister of Transportation has also used advertising campaigns like the Winter Safe Driving campaign to help save lives across the province. I’m sure members have noticed that although it is technically spring, drivers are still dealing with winter driving conditions in many parts of Ontario. Unfortunately, collisions on our roads are about 10% higher in the winter months compared to the rest of the year. The Winter Safe Driving campaign, which started on November 1 and wraps up at the end of March, was designed with the goal of reducing collisions, injuries and deaths on our roads. I think all members would agree this is a very important initiative. Among other things, the campaign promotes the Ontario 511 app.

I’m sure all members are aware, but just to reiterate, Ontario 511 is a phone app, a website, a social media account, and a toll-free bilingual hotline. It provides valuable real-time information on highways, construction, weather and traffic to help Ontario drivers safely plan their route. This service can be a real lifesaver, especially in any emergency. I know that the Commissioner of Emergency Management Ontario, who is actually my neighbour in the Whitney Block, agrees that Ontario 511 is a valuable tool. To promote it, the government has a comprehensive and bilingual campaign, including 18 digital displays, six online videos, four ads on a popular music platform, and two banner ads on YouTube. This campaign is still running now, so we don’t have the results at the present time, but it is important for me to note that the most up-to-date information is used to evaluate all provincial ad campaigns after they are completed. Again, this comes down to fiscal responsibility and transparency. All campaigns supported with the taxpayers’ money should be run in the most cost-efficient way possible.

It is also important that the people of Ontario know about some of the historic investments that the government is making in our transit and highway infrastructure, including the $71 billion for transit and the $28 billion for highways. These are historic investments.

And I just want to pause for a moment here to thank the federal government for cancelling their EA so we can get shovels in the ground on Highway 413.

I should also thank the Supreme Court, which found last year, in a 5-2 decision, that the federal Impact Assessment Act is unconstitutional.

Speaker, another important purpose of our government’s advertising is to promote our province to investors around the world.

I would like to take an opportunity to talk about some of the great work that the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade has done in this area. Four years ago, he created Invest Ontario to promote Ontario as open for business, attracting new investments and bringing thousands of well-paying jobs to communities across Ontario. To do this, Invest Ontario has used advertising around the world to promote the province and our amazing investment opportunities. And the results have been incredible.

I know the members opposite don’t like hearing this, but this is worth repeating because this is great news for this province. Under this Premier, the province has attracted over $28 billion of new investment from global auto manufacturers in the last three years alone. Last year, in 2023, Ontario created more manufacturing jobs than all 50 US states combined. In fact, since 2018, Ontario has added over 715,000 new jobs. And I could go on.

I think it’s fair to say that at least part of this progress is because of effective advertising campaigns from Invest Ontario. And the evidence supports this. Before their advertising campaigns began, the Ministry of Economic Development found that only 2% of international investors could name Ontario. Just to be clear, these valuable investors, who countries, states, and provinces around the world were trying to attract, could not even identify our province. But the latest numbers tell a very different story. In a survey during the ad campaign, these investors were 13% more likely to recognize Ontario as an attractive destination for auto sector investment, and an incredible 41% more likely to invest in Ontario.

So what happened? The answer is simple: Effective and efficient international advertising campaigns have raised awareness of Ontario as a great destination for international investment. And as I said, this awareness has translated into real investments in the future of this province, worth tens of billions of dollars, and thousands of new jobs.

Since 2020, Invest Ontario has secured $2.4 billion in investment directly, creating over 2,600 jobs. And I believe this is just the beginning at Invest Ontario. Their 2024 International Foreign Direct Investment campaign has reached millions of potential decision-makers in six major international markets. These markets were chosen because they represent the greatest opportunity for large-scale investment in Ontario’s key sectors: the auto and EV sector, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and critical technologies. The campaign was designed to use media platforms where senior decision-makers spend most of their time, including places like business class airport lounges and popular investment websites. The results of this most recent campaign are not available yet, but I believe it will build on the progress we have made so far, and I’m excited to see how Invest Ontario will continue to provide value through its cost-effective, targeted and carefully designed advertising campaigns.

Speaker, I would like to thank all members for being here this afternoon and taking the time to listen to the government’s response to opposition day motion number 3.

I’d just like to reiterate that this government’s use of advertising is well within the requirements of the Government Advertising Act. All of the rules of financial oversight have been followed, without a single exception. It has been a pleasure for me to speak about the high standards of oversight and approval that each and every government advertising company must meet.

In closing, I also want to thank the Minister of Health, the Minister of Transportation and the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, and all of our other colleagues, for the important advertising campaigns they put forward for the people of this great province of Ontario. I’m proud of all the work they’re doing, and I’m certainly not going to apologize that we’re making sure Ontario is well informed about how their government is working for them to build a stronger province. The Premier made an important announcement about this in Mississauga this morning, and I know the Minister of Finance will have more to say here tomorrow.

Moving forward, I hope that the members opposite can find their way to standing with us, instead of standing in the way of the work that we are doing to build a better province here in Ontario for future generations. I know that our colleagues here are supportive of this.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, for the time today to speak.

Further debate?

For the love of humanity—honestly, you can’t make it up. The member from Mississauga–Lakeshore went on at length about how the Auditor General approved these ads. The reason she approved those ads is because she had no choice, because the Liberals watered down those rules and basically gave the Auditor General no power to call out partisanship.

Your party, not that long ago, was aligned with us. That’s why we brought forth this motion today. It was actually today’s Deputy Premier who brought forward this motion when the Liberals basically put the screws to the people of this province. And now you are fully in bed with the Liberals on partisan advertising. Well, there you go.

I don’t even know how you say it with a straight face. To my friend from Mississauga–Lakeshore: I don’t understand it—because this is exactly what the auditor warned about. This is what she said: “Ontarians could end up paying for partisan political advertising under changes the Liberal government is proposing.” She said this would “gut the 10-year-old act”—which it has done.

“They would place her office ‘in the untenable and unacceptable position of approving ads because they conform to the narrow requirements of the amended Government Advertising Act, but may be clearly partisan by any objective, reasonable standard.’”

That is the Ontario that we are in right now. That is happening here in Ontario—just like that advertisement.

She went on to say, “Under the proposed amendments such an ad would no longer be considered partisan, although most reasonable people would conclude otherwise, yet it is Ontario taxpayers who would have paid for them.”

Do you know why this is so painful for so many Ontarians today? It’s because their lives are so hard. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. You’ve removed rent control. People are getting renovicted, demovicted. It is a precarious place for the vast majority of Ontarians today.

I want to also say to the member, on his defence of this indefensible policy, that we are not talking about public service announcements about changing your tires; we are talking about putting forward inaccurate information to the public, and then adding insult to injury by saying to them, “You must pay for this. You have no choice in the matter.”

It’s so very obvious that—perhaps it is just this age-old adage that power corrupts, because when the PCs were over here, they were mad as hell about this policy. In fact, I’ve got some quotes that I will be sharing with you.

I totally agree with the Globe editorial which says that these partisan advertisements that the taxpayers are footing the bill for erase the line between party and government. Isn’t that the truth?

And when you’re watching the Super Bowl and you’re watching how this image of Ontario—where people have access to doctors; if your child has autism, you have a therapist; or if you drive a car, you’re not stuck on Highway 7. I just heard in an advertisement this weekend that the government is building Highway 7—well, someone should tell the people who are supposed to be building Highway 7, because I have to tell you, nothing is happening in that regard. Even when the Minister of Transportation came to Waterloo, a reporter, Terry Pender, said to him, “Aren’t you embarrassed to be here making an announcement about another announcement?”

Also, I heard that two-way, all-day GO service—we’re getting service every 30 minutes, except it stops at Brampton.

So you can imagine the people who have to bear witness to such a waste of tax dollars—because there is no redeeming quality in these advertisements. They don’t even make people feel good in Ontario, especially when you look at the stats around how one out of every four persons who goes to a food bank is a child. That is what’s happening in Ontario. Some 600,000 women are waiting for mammograms. That’s what’s happening in Ontario, not this glossed-over version of—this version that exists, I think, in the Premier’s head.

The other advertising campaign that went on is Ontario Is Getting Stronger, and they did this just before the last election. So they’re using taxpayer dollars to basically campaign on. The Auditor General, prior to this gutting of the act, would have shut that down, because it undermines our democracy and our trust in government. And these are serious issues. So that Ontario Is Getting Stronger—it always made me quite angry, actually, when I was watching it. We know that Galen Weston is getting stronger. We know that the insurance sector is getting stronger. Do you know what’s not, though? The needs of children who are in our special education classes. They’re suffering. So this is a very serious disconnect, and it goes back to the way that this government operates, I would say—like it is a sticker business, like they can do whatever they want.

And it’s disappointing to see colleagues we worked with shoulder to shoulder on this very issue, on this bill. They supported the bill when the now Deputy Premier brought it forward in the last session, but when the Minister of Economic Development—when he was confronted with this abuse of tax dollars for partisan purposes, this is what the member from Nipissing said: “While this government continues to make life unaffordable for Ontario families, they’re advertising on the taxpayer’s dime. It’s simply unacceptable.” We totally agree. He went on to say, “It’s time for the Wynne government”—you can just replace “Ford” in there—“to end this shameless self-promotion on the taxpayer’s dime and focus on addressing their years of waste, mismanagement, and scandals.” When you know your history, you can sometimes predict your future. And that sounds a lot like what’s actually going on right now in Ontario.

When the Deputy Premier, actually, went on to say and brought forward this legislation—it was part of the debate at the time. She said that her bill, which is our bill now, was aiming to reverse the Liberals’ 2015 changes that she said watered down the Auditor General’s oversight. She noted that the Liberal government justified introducing tougher rules by slamming the former Progressive Conservative government’s use of taxpayer money on partisan advertising, in 2004.

So this is a long-standing issue, with both Liberals and Conservatives trying to out-scandal each other on advertising.

She went on to say, “This issue is a total flip-flop from the Liberal members opposite.” I feel like I’m in a theatre of the absurd right here. “What’s that line? ‘That was then; this is now.’ What has changed, Speaker? It appears that the Premier will only maintain those principles when they are convenient.”

And aren’t we exactly in this spot—and I think our agricultural critic, this morning, really posed a very important question: Where are your principles now?

So is it a question of the government saying, “Do you know what? We’re going to be a little bit different than them. Our advertisements may be a little cheaper. Maybe they’ll be even glossier”? But this is a disconnect from what the people of this province are experiencing. The amount of money is staggering.

My colleagues are going to talk about some specific issues as it relates to Metrolinx.

At the end of the day, these ads serve no public good. We take an oath, as legislators, to come to this place to try to better the lives of Ontarians, and giving them cheap commercials with a glossy theme and a snappy tune is an abdication of the responsibility and dedication to the people of the province who we’re elected to serve.

Shame on this government. We will never stand with you as you continue these policies which work against the people we’re elected to serve.

I recognize the member from Simcoe–Grey.

Ontarians expect their government to respect tax dollars, not spend millions on partisan ads. There was a time when the Deputy Premier believed this, as well. It’s outrageous to me that governments spend money on what are, in essence, political pieces. The reality is that Ontarians see right through these Conservative talking points. These ads don’t pass the smell test. Ontarians want the government to respect their tax dollars, not prop up the Conservative Party.

Let me be clear: Not all government advertising is bad. We’re not proposing to stop the government from sharing important information with the public. The millions of dollars on these ads could have been spent on other causes that Ontarians need to know about.

It’s not too late. The Premier and the Conservative caucus can do the right thing. When you support this motion, you will be sending a clear message that you understand there is a clear and distinct difference between the Ontario Conservative Party advertising and Ontario government advertising. You can change course and support this motion.

I urge the Premier to stop wasting taxpayer dollars and start prioritizing the interests of Ontario residents over the Ontario Conservative Party and support this motion.

The next time one of your constituents approaches you, one of those individuals comes to you in your ridings, you look them in the eye and you say, “No, it was far more important for the Ford Conservatives to spend $24 million on vanity ads that only promote their Conservative brand.” It was far more important for you to spend $24 million on vanity ads than help hundreds of thousands of people who are looking to us, as legislators, and to you, as government, to do the right thing.

You can think about them when you stand up and oppose this bill.

I rise in the House to join in on the debate today on opposition day motion number 3.

Madam Speaker, since we were elected, we—I bet you every member here in this House can agree that we inherited an absolute mess and mismanagement of this province. The former government chased away 300,000 jobs.

Over the past six years, our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has invested back in the people of Ontario. To that end, Ontario is becoming a world-class province that is now being taken seriously on the global stage. We are competitive with all 50 states, creating more manufacturing jobs than all states combined. As the Premier has said many times over and over, we are eating their lunch.

Toronto continues to grow, and that’s why we here in Toronto are focused on building infrastructure and promoting amenities that realize the vision of Toronto as a world-class city.

When we talk about advertising, the former Liberal government advertised, and they were told that they advertised inappropriately. But we, this government, have cut advertising spending by 75%, from $62.6 million in 2017-18 to $16.4 million in 2018-19. I guess when you’re the Liberal government and you’re driving away jobs and when you’re driving away the economy; when people are struggling to do anything; when you’re not building schools; when you’re actually closing 600 schools; when you’re not building any roads, so people can’t get from A to B; when you’re not investing in infrastructure, the only thing you can do is advertise.

But we are not advertising like the Liberals. As the Auditor General said, they did not provide viewers with useful information; they were actually misleading. On the other hand, when we are advertising, we’re talking about the great things that are happening in Ontario.

I’d like to share a couple of examples of some of the great things that we can showcase about our province.

I know not everybody in this room may agree with Ontario Place, but I am so excited about the future of Ontario Place for this province. It is going to be such an amazing place.

Interjections.

Thank you. It is. It absolutely is.

I remember, as a kid, going there in the 1970s, and it was this wonderful place. My dad took us, and we went to this water park and swung on some ropes. I’m excited for the future and for the next generation to see this great place and enjoy it as we did as kids.

And it’s not just about Toronto; that’s about everywhere. That’s not just about the people who live and breathe in Toronto; that’s about people who live in Windsor, people who live in the States—people who live all around the world can come to this beautiful province and see what we have to offer. And that’s what advertising is all about. Let’s see what we have in Ontario. It is an amazing province.

And we are investing. What are we investing in?

We’re investing in housing. We hear about that every day—the money we’re investing in housing. We are building houses in our province.

We are investing in our hospitals. In my riding alone, the Queensway health care centre is building a new nine-storey patient tower. And at St. Joseph’s hospital, we’re also building.

Do you know what? It is an amazing time to be living in Ontario. I am extremely excited.

Schools: We are rebuilding schools. In my riding alone, we are rebuilding four schools. Thank you to the Minister of Education. And in September of this year, we’re going to have two brand new schools open—Holy Angels and St. Leo—which are going to be first-class, all with child care spaces for those parents, so it makes an easy drop-off when you have to drop off two little ones versus driving around town. So I thank the minister for those investments. I can’t wait to get shovels in the ground for our Bishop Allen school. It’s going to be a high school in our riding for 1,400 students. Those kids at Bishop Allen certainly deserve a new school, so we’re very excited.

We have investments in our schools, our universities, our colleges.

We are creating economic growth, jobs, as I mentioned—700,000 jobs. We need to be promoting those. We want people to come to Ontario to live. If they don’t know Ontario is a much better place than it was when the Liberals were in power, how are they going to come here? So we need to advertise to let people know that we are building our province. We have the best province, and why would we not share that with the world?

I had the opportunity to drive this weekend. It was a beautiful, sunny weekend, and I was driving east along the 401, and then I drove west along the 401. While I was driving, I heard some of the ads on the radio—and I don’t want to say too much because I don’t want to take away from my colleague from Niagara West. It talked about taking the GO to Niagara. I never thought about taking the GO to Niagara. I have some American cousins coming up for Easter weekend, and I was trying to figure out, how do I go to work and how do I let them enjoy—because they want to go down to Niagara Falls. Well, now I can tell them they can take the GO, thanks to the government ads. So this was good news. And it’s always good to hear the great things that we’re building.

And when you’re stuck in traffic, isn’t it nice to know that the government of Ontario has our back and we are going to be building more roads so we can actually get from A to B even quicker? I can’t say that about this morning—the one lane is cut off from the Gardiner, so I was a little bit later than I had hoped this morning. But investments in the Gardiner and the DVP, investments in the city of Toronto will help eventually get that traffic moving. I’m a driver. I like to drive my car, and I know many people here do like to drive their cars. We need solid roads to drive on.

I thank the government for investing—and I appreciate hearing that we are investing in our communities, not just here in Toronto but all across the province.

Every year, I always take a drive to Thunder Bay, which is where my family resides. We like to go to camp—we call it camp—up north. There is a beautiful drive to Thunder Bay. If you haven’t taken that drive, I really highly recommend that road. You just have to make sure that there isn’t a flood across Wawa—I’ve been stuck there a couple of times and had to take Sultan road. It’s a great drive, and it’s beautiful scenery.

We want people to come to our province and see these beautiful sights.

Northern Ontario is such a beautiful place to go and drive, especially in the summer. I’m not sure about the winter—I’m not a big fan of winter driving—but in the summertime, it’s such a great place to go and visit.

I highly recommend for all those viewing around the world, come to northern Ontario, come to Toronto. We have great things to offer.

Something else we’ve been talking about is One Fare. I had a little interview with one of my students from Humber College. Our college students are thrilled with One Fare. It’s going to save them money. And that’s for everybody. If you do come to Toronto and you don’t have a car, you can hop on a GO bus, you can hop on transit and go around the GTA with one fare. Our government is saving not just Ontarians but other people from around the world who visit us can also save money with One Fare.

Congratulations to the government on the One Fare program. It is amazing for students, and it will be amazing for tourists so they can get around this community.

I want to highlight a couple of other things that I love about my city.

I already talked about Ontario Place because I’m extremely excited about the future for Ontario Place.

Do you know what? You can take the GO downtown. I don’t know if anybody here is a Raptors fan. I know we had the number one fan—the super fan—here on Thursday. You can go to a Blue Jays game, taking the GO train. You can enjoy our diners—places for lunch and dinner. You can go see the Leafs. Hopefully, when you go see the Leafs, they are winning—often they are not, but we certainly always love our Leafs. It’s something certainly to see in Toronto—making a stop at the art gallery and see KAWS that’s there right now, and the CN Tower, the Rogers Centre, Casa Loma.

What about Casa Loma? I don’t know if anyone has ever seen Casa Loma. It’s a great old building, a nice castle, and you can grab a snack there.

Advertising our cities is something that’s important—not just about places to go, but events and festivals such as the Pride parade. Let’s advertise. Let’s get people from all around the world. They come here for the Pride parade and celebrate our diversity and our culture. We’re very proud. I’m a very proud Torontonian. I go to the Pride parade every year, and I just think it’s an amazing opportunity for all.

We also have Caribana coming up. I know they showcased an event here at the Legislature not too long ago so we could see a little bit about what that’s going to be about this year. We certainly want people from all around the world to come and celebrate Caribana the week of August 1 to 5.

What else do we have here? We’ve got tons of multicultural events.

Come on down to Toronto if you love to eat.

We have Greektown. We have Chinatown. We have Little India. We have the Latin and Spanish community.

Madam Speaker, we have so much to see and do here in Ontario. I am so proud of living in this province.

I was with the Premier on Friday. I heard him talk about this province, and I left there with a smile on my face, saying, “I am so proud to live in this province, with a government that cares—investing in health care, investing in our schools, investing in our students, investing in people. We are making a difference.”

Because I live in the riding of the largest food terminal—I’m running out of time—and I know the agriculture minister is here, I have one last thing to say: Good things grow in Ontario.

Further debate?

I’m glad to talk about partisan advertising and how much it costs the taxpayer.

I want to quote the Auditor General, who said, “We documented concerns about one campaign” submitted by the government, called Building a Better Health Care System campaign. “Our office concluded that the primary objective of” this campaign “was to foster a positive impression of the government.”

The Auditor General went on to say that of the 443 ads submitted, 181 would have been classified as partisan for their content.

This campaign represented $20.8 million in advertising spending.

Let me quote the Minister of Health from when she was in opposition. She said, “These millions of dollars on these ads could have been spent on other causes” like “how to deal with the fentanyl crisis. This information could have saved lives, but instead it is helping the Premier’s re-election campaign. That is unacceptable, and it must stop.” I fully agree.

She went on to say, “It is clear that these ads ... are not about the well-being of Ontario, but the well-being of the Ontario Liberal Party.”

I agree with all of this, but it is a repeat—exactly the same thing that they were against when they were in opposition and the Liberals were doing it, they now think that it is all good.

That $20.8 million: If this would have been invested into northern Ontario, into our interdisciplinary primary health care teams, everyone in Ontario would have had access to primary care. It would be a game-changer. If that money would have been invested in northern Ontario, the safe consumption sites, supervised consumption sites in Sudbury and Timmins would stay open. The one in Sault Ste. Marie would have the money to open. It would save lives. But no, $20.8 million of the $33.72 million in advertising spending from this government went to partisan advertising—so the Auditor General told us. We know that it is wrong.

Let’s do something good for a change. Let’s make sure that taxpayers are not paying for partisan advertising. Vote for this NDP motion.

Further debate?

I’m very grateful to be able to rise this afternoon and participate in debate on a motion from the Leader of the Opposition—and for their participation this afternoon. I’ve listened very intently to a number of different colleagues speaking passionately about the motion before the House, and I want to thank all those members for adding their voices to debate.

I want to pose a question to the members who are here in the chamber this afternoon, and my question to you all is: When? When did the New Democratic Party become a party that failed to aspire for better? When did the New Democratic Party become a party that believed in opportunity for the people of Ontario? When did the New Democratic Party of Ontario become a party that no longer believed that if you could see it, you could be it? I want to build on that theme in relation to this motion this afternoon, because we’ve all heard that phrase, and I think it’s an important one. It’s an important aspect of all of our roles in this House—to lift up those voices who aren’t always lifted up; to ensure that the people we have the privilege of representing understand that there are opportunities that exist here for them in the province of Ontario. I look at the almost a million people who came to this province last year from so many corners of the world, because they believed that better was possible when they made their home here in Ontario. Aside from those who are in this chamber who are Indigenous, all of us came from somewhere—we all came from somewhere, to this province, from another land, believing that we had the opportunity to grow a life for our family, to build a career, to build opportunities for our children, because we saw that potential in the lives of those who had come before us. We saw it and we believed it, and we knew that if we saw it, we could be it.

And yet, when we see the New Democrats, the party who I know will often stand in this chamber and say, “It is the New Democrats who were the party of advocating for primarily government-paid health care”; who have a long history of standing for not just workers’ rights, but farmers’ rights, standing for those who work hard to build strong products that we can be proud of in every corner of this globe, I have to ask the question: When? When did the NDP lose their way? When did they fail to see that supporting these workers, supporting the incredible products that are grown here in Ontario, that are exported from this province, means that we all have a responsibility, as legislators, as members of the legislative branch, but also, in the government, in the executive branch—wanting to make a little bit of a distinction between those two here. The executive branch and the government also have a role in promoting that opportunity, so that those who see what happens here in Ontario, those who see those opportunities, understand that that is also an opportunity for them.

Speaker, I know I don’t have that much time, so I’m not going to be able to dig into all the examples of that, but I think of those I’ve met in my constituency, who came here with very, very little—family members, neighbours, those I’ve had the opportunity to meet, from church basements to town halls and chambers of commerce—who said that they came to this province with a dream and a belief in what was possible if they worked hard, if they followed the rules, and if they were able to bring forward good ideas that could grow the economy, grow their community and grow a better home for their children. And now they are the same people I had the opportunity to speak with, who come to me in my constituency office and say, “What we are seeing in the province of Ontario, finally, is a government that dares to dream big, that believes in the potential of this province, and that is giving us the tools to succeed.”

And there are a few different areas to that. One of the reasons is that—I think it’s important that we’re seeing the government promote made-in-Ontario and Ontario opportunities, and one of the advantages that we have in comparison with every other jurisdiction of the world is our manufacturing strength.

In Niagara, we have a long, proud, rich history of manufacturing. It stems from our ability to capture the incredible power of Niagara Falls. If you have the opportunity, go through the Niagara Parks station and see that incredible site, where, for over 100 years, the power of the Falls has been harnessed to drive big machinery. And we have many, many people working with that machinery to produce incredible products.

In Ontario, it’s a legacy that we saw, under the former Liberal government, go by the wayside. We saw the former Liberal government abandon labour; we saw them abandon the hard-working men and women in places like Niagara and across Ontario who build incredible products—from our auto parts sector to our advanced manufacturing sector, in aerospace engineering to the mining sector, and everything in between. Ensuring that along every part of that supply chain continuum, there were those who were not just saving a little bit of money to be able to put food on the table—that’s important, too—but who were able to put more than that away, to be able to ensure that they have something in the bank account for a rainy day or to put their kids through university. Those are the dreams that the province of Ontario is upholding and is uplifting by the investments that have been made in things like the electric vehicle space; by ensuring that strong manufacturing is coming back in a way that we have never seen in the province of Ontario.

Speaker, I don’t know if you’ve had the opportunity to hear the statistic—it was something that, when I first heard it, frankly, made me surprised but also understand now why I’m seeing that amount of growth in the Niagara region. Last year, in the province of Ontario, more manufacturing jobs were created than not one, not two, not 10, not 20, not 30, but all 52 US states combined. That is a dream and an opportunity that is a reality for so many men and women who are now able to work good jobs in those areas.

Speaker, it’s about ensuring that there’s clean, affordable energy, so that people aren’t worried about having to choose between heating and eating but are able to ensure that when they look forward to the future, when they dream about what is possible, they are able to know that, whether it’s next year, this year or five or 10 years from now, when they come home and they plug in their electric vehicle made in Ontario, they are able to have clean, affordable, reliable energy being produced because of the nuclear investments that this government is making.

It means that when they have a child or they have a loved one they have to take to a walk-in clinic, or whether it’s someone they have to take to a local hospital—like the two new hospitals going up in Niagara. It’s not just the new West Lincoln Memorial Hospital that we saw cancelled by the Liberal government, with the support of the NDP, in the 2012 budget—when the NDP propped up the Liberal government and cancelled the West Lincoln Memorial Hospital. It’s not just the new South Niagara Hospital that’s going up. It’s work on other sites—for example, the new Hotel Dieu Shaver site that’s being worked on as we speak; the planning for an expanded rehabilitation hospital in the Niagara region. Not one, not two, but three hospitals are coming to the Niagara region.

It’s incredibly important, though, that we have the people to do that work. That’s why, when I go and I visit the students, so many of them, again, from across this world—not just Canadian-born, but those who come from every corner who see the opportunities that exist in this province and believe that, if they come here, they will be able to leave a better life for their children than those who came before them. They’ve seen the advertisements; they’ve seen the important work that’s already being done here, and they believe that they have a government that has their back. That’s why, when I go to Brock University and I go through their nursing program and I speak with the students who are in that nursing program—they tell me, “A couple of years ago, there used to be 300 spots, and we were all competing for these 300 spots in this nursing program at Brock University.” Today there are 760 students in that nursing program at Brock University—well over double the amount of training spots. Those are people who have the opportunity now to give back, to earn a good wage, to be able to earn a good salary for their family, but also who are able to provide incredible care in a time with aging demographics, when we need people to provide that care.

So I look at my history and my family’s history, when we came here after the Second World War because we saw Canadians who dared to dream big. We saw Canadians who were willing to go overseas to put their lives on the line—men and women like those from the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, who I had the opportunity to join at their officers’ mess over the weekend, in St. Catharines—who believed in freedom and opportunity so much that they were willing to put their lives on the line and, by doing so, to go overseas to liberate my grandparents in Holland, in the Netherlands, and to be, in fact, a form of a walking advertisement for the best of what Canada is.

Those people, when they came here and they saw the incredible opportunity that was happening in the post-World War II era here in Canada, saw a national dream that was being created.

And who was part of that dream? Who was part of the national conversation that was happening? Of course, I know they’ve never formed government, at least at the federal level— and it took another 40 years for them to form government here, provincially. The New Democrats, or the CCFers, I guess they were called at that point. They might not have been people who, again, my ancestors always philosophically agreed with. My ancestors were farmers. My family are farmers. They’re hard-working people. They’re people who believe in the importance of community, of building things and of leaving a better future. I believed, growing up, that that was, again, a party that believed in those things. They believed in dreaming big. They believed the old line that you may as well shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’re going to land among the stars. That was something that I’d always thought the NDP believed in—that they shot for big things, even if often poorly thought out and naive in the way that they designed a lot of their programs.

So I go back to that question: When did the NDP lose their vision? When did they believe that better wasn’t possible? When did they believe that it wasn’t important for a national people, for a people here in Ontario or Canada, to believe in themselves and their potential, in their skills, to be proud of the things that they’re doing? When I hear them stand in this place and—I don’t want to be rude, but—complain, as they do, about the investments that are being made and the way that we’re working to build that pride in the people of Ontario, it makes me sad. This is a party that has a long history—a history in agricultural communities in southwestern Ontario, and Prairie roots among the Baptist preachers and those who continue to inspire me. It has its roots in people who believed that better was possible and that they could bring forward a positive vision of what Ontario could be. It was a party of people who believed that if you could see it, you could be it. But now this is a party who seem to think, “No, no. We don’t want you to see it, because we don’t want you to be it. We don’t think that the people of Ontario deserve to have a government that is investing in a national, in a provincial, in a forward-looking vision that they could be part of.” They don’t want to see people who are encouraged to know that we have some of the cleanest steel in the world. They don’t want to be part of bringing forward opportunities for people in skilled trades. They don’t want to be part of building up an incredible system of health care, where you have staff being trained in levels they’ve never seen before, opening up brand new facilities that they’ve never seen before. They don’t want to be part of the solution.

Again, Speaker, I go back to my question, and I want to leave you with it: When did the NDP lose their way? When did they fail to learn and when did they fail to understand that providing a vision for the future for the people of Ontario is crucial to continuing to grow, to bringing more people here to this province, to continue that legacy that each and every one of us who is in this House believes in? I would leave that question with you in hopes of an answer, because this motion doesn’t answer it. All this motion says is, “We don’t like things that the government does.”

I’ll be candid. That’s what I hear regularly from my constituents—they say, “We know what you’re doing. We see what you’re doing. We have your back in what you’re doing in building up this province, in providing opportunities, in getting homes built and in ensuring young people have good careers, good-paying careers in Ontario.”

But all we ever hear from the opposition is negativity, negativity, negativity, and today, unfortunately, they continue that trait.

So, Speaker, regrettably—I love supporting the members of the opposition when they have good ideas—I will not be supporting this motion.

It’s my pleasure to rise to speak to our opposition day motion. The member from Niagara West kept repeating, “If you see it, you do it.” That’s their motto. They saw the Liberals doing partisan ads, pretended like they didn’t support it and have now gone on to do it themselves, so I guess he’s accurate: If you see it, do it.

Speaker, I would like to rewrite some of the ads that the government has put out. It starts with, “What if we told you there’s a place where it’s all happening? And what if we told you, you already live here?” Between those lines there’s a lot of fluff about the government.

Well, Speaker, what if I told you there is a place where over 800,000 adults and children accessed food banks last year, an increase of over 38%; a place where food banks were visited nearly six million times; where 2.3 million people don’t have access to primary care physicians; where emergency departments are being closed, all around the province; where for decades we have First Nations communities that are still on boil-water advisories?

What if I told you that there are 588-day wait-lists in my community for children to access mental health supports and parents are being forced to surrender their children to the children’s aid society, hoping for their children to get help?

What if I told you that 200,000 Ontarians are waiting years for access to social housing, more than 7,000 people in Windsor-Essex on our wait-lists for affordable housing?

This is the reality of the province of Ontario. And what have we, the people of Ontario, told the government? That you already live here, and the people of the province need you to stop spending tens of millions of dollars on advertisements to say that you’re doing great when the reality is the people of the province need you to spend that money on the supports and services that they need.

Further debate?

Some things don’t age well, like my old flip phone, last week’s bananas, and the 2018 election promise from this government.

Back in 2015, the Liberal government weakened the Auditor General’s oversight on advertising, allowing millions in taxpayers’ dollars to fund partisan advertising about unverified claims. Ontario was outraged about using taxpayers’ own money to lie to taxpayers. This government’s caucus reacted by tabling a motion to reverse these changes, and the Premier pledged to take action on the motion, if elected, to end this misuse of funds—except, once elected, this government broke that promise and they doubled down on partisan advertising, using taxpayers’ funds for self-promotional ads, like advertising a housing plan that decimated the greenbelt during the scandal that tried to sell it off, and the Building a Better Health System campaign, which, as the Auditor General noted, lacked evidence and context.

Ironically, the same member who tabled the 2018 motion to stop partisan ads now heads the ministry that blew $20 million, two thirds of Ontario’s ad budget, on a partisan campaign. This has been a slap in the face of all front-line health care workers who know better.

Speaker, it’s more than just the ads; it’s about the government’s self-promotion at taxpayers’ expense.

When criticizing the Wynne Liberals’ use of public funds for partisan ads, Doug Ford said, “We’re the only ones to protect the people.”

Ontarians are tired of leaders who promise to protect their interests only to abandon these principles once in power. It does not have to be this way, and it never should have been this way.

It’s an honour today to rise in support of accountability, transparency and fairness—principles that this government seems to have forgotten since they formed government. Rather than holding virtues and values that they loudly claimed prior to 2018, they have lost their way.

Today, the official opposition is giving the government the chance to stand up for their values again, to remember who they were. It’s not too late.

It’s clear that the government has gone astray, twisting themselves in knots trying to pat themselves on the back. But today, Conservatives can get back on track by supporting their own legislation. It’s never too late to do the right thing.

The official opposition will always fight for more for people, while the Conservatives want Ontarians to settle for less, to settle for a bait-and-switch, where they’re pretending to spend money on things that people care about when, in actual point of fact, they’re not doing the right thing.

The media has had some really interesting lines about what this government has done. David Moscrop said that it has been “inept and dodgy....

“In essence, the Ford government devoted millions of dollars promoting itself while emergency rooms closed, homeless residents froze in the streets,” ODSP “recipients struggled to make rent and feed themselves, and the province’s infrastructure crumbled.”

He also stated that the campaign pushed “the boundaries of the human capacity for cynicism.”

Robert Benzie from the Toronto Star said, when he mentioned—the Toronto Star headline on the print edition: “Our Money, More Lies,” also blasting the ads as “spectacularly misleading.”

“Doug Ford’s Feel-Bad Movie of the Summer....

“It’s misdirection worthy of a Las Vegas illusionist....

“An unapologetic partisan ad” that “erases the line between party and government,” was the Globe editorial’s line.

Now is the government’s chance to stand up for itself, to support its own legislation.

Prove that you have not lost your way. Prove that these values mean something to you. Make good on your promise. It’s never too late to do the right thing.

This government is spending money hand over fist to brand itself as a good government instead of being a good government. Spending money to convince people of the good work that they should be doing does not fool people into believing these nonsense ads.

The government has spent nearly $25 million on partisan ads, including $20.8 million to promote the Ministry of Health, desperately trying to paint a positive impression of this government, but it isn’t working, because it isn’t real. These partisan ads are not political reality, and people sitting for hours in hospital waiting rooms, or who are desperately trying to get medical care, are not fooled and they’re not fools. They don’t appreciate the wildly out-of-touch, rosy health care picture being painted by these government commercials.

The Premier stood in this Legislature and talked about how good his government is at marketing and branding. Well, imagine if this Premier thought governing was even a fraction as important as branding. And, Speaker, between buck-a-beer stickers that don’t stick and disappearing licence plates, I don’t know how much this government should brag about branding.

Regardless, our motion is to support the official opposition Bill 176, to end the public funding of partisan government advertising. Interestingly, it is a bill we’ve introduced, identical to a bill tabled by the now-Minister of Health, who was a voice then against the behaviour that she is responsible for now.

As the critic for infrastructure, transportation and highways, I was shocked at the terrible ads that Metrolinx ran to admonish and condescend to transit users in the GTA. Folks who have been waiting for 13 years for transit had to endure these “see beyond” ads that gaslighted and diminished real concerns of the public. People thought that they were snarky, sanctimonious and shocking, and these Metrolinx ads were rude and disrespectful to real people who rely on dependable transit to get to work, school and medical appointments.

Worse, Speaker, it was recently reported by the CBC that Metrolinx spent $2.25 million of the public’s dollars to be rude to them—$2.25 million of our own money to condescend to us—rude and inappropriate, but encouraged, because this government loves advertising, even if what they’re selling is stuff and nonsense.

So stop spending public money on partisan advertising. This government needs to be a good government, not just play one on TV.