Hear, hear.

Next, I’ll recognize the member for Oakville.

It’s with great pleasure that I rise today and speak on the second reading of Bill 180, Building a Better Ontario Act, following the minister.

Thank you to the Minister of Finance for sharing his time with myself and the member from Mississauga–Malton, the new parliamentary assistant. It has been an honour to work with the minister and his team on the 2024 budget.

Speaker, I also want to take this opportunity to thank the previous parliamentary assistant, the member from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound, for all his valuable support in working on the budget.

Let me begin by saying I’m very confident in the Ontario government’s vision for our economy. We are investing in vital public services and in infrastructure to get more homes built faster, to attract high-quality, high-paying jobs, and to keep costs down for families and businesses, all while retaining a path to balance and all during a period when Ontario, like the rest of the world, continues to face economic challenges and uncertainty.

I’d like to take a few minutes to expand on some of the economic proof points of the times we find ourselves in, as shown in the 2024 budget. As detailed there, high interest rates are expected to continue negatively impacting Ontario’s economy in 2024.

The outlook for real GDP growth in 2024 has deteriorated significantly over the last year. The budget also shows that following estimated real GDP growth of 1.2% in 2023, growth is projected to be at 0.3% for 2024; this is down from 1.3% at the time of the 2023 budget and 0.5% at the time of the 2023 economic outlook and fiscal review. Real GDP growth is projected to then increase to 1.9% in 2025 and further rise 2.2% in 2026 and 2027. This also represents slower projected growth compared to the 2023 budget and the 2023 economic outlook and fiscal review. Bear in mind, for the purposes of prudent fiscal planning, the Ministry of Finance projections are slightly below the average of private sector forecasts.

Meanwhile, employment in the province is projected to rise by 0.8% in 2024, slowing from a 2.4% increase in 2023. A positive is that the unemployment rate over the outlook period is projected to remain below the recent historical average.

Geopolitical developments are key economic factors and continue to pose a significant risk to Ontario’s economic outlook. For example, commodity markets and supply chains continue to be impacted by these global events.

A final key piece to this macroeconomic picture is that rising tensions are continuing to weigh on international trade and goods and services, which could impact Ontario’s key trading relationships around the world and here in North America. These geopolitical risks and possibilities are outside the power of provincial governments to influence, even if they may have ramifications on the provincial government.

For 2023-24, the government is projecting a deficit of approximately $3 billion. As part of our path to balance, the government is projecting deficits of $9.8 billion in 2024-25 and $4.6 billion in 2025-26, before reaching a surplus of $0.5 billion in 2026-27. So we do have a path to balance.

Speaker, to paraphrase the minister, we are not letting these things divert from our plan to build Ontario. Many of our 2024 budget initiatives are focused on health care. A marquee piece the minister revealed is how we are establishing the first medical school in Canada that is primarily focused on training family doctors right here in the GTA, at York University.

Just as we need more family doctors, we also need more nurses, which is why we are investing $128 million over three years to support sustained enrolment increases of nursing spaces at publicly assisted colleges and universities by 2,000 registered nurse seats and 1,000 registered practical nurse seats.

We are helping more people access convenient health care by investing an additional $965 million in hospital operating funding in 2024-25. This is a 4% increase in total base hospital operations for an unprecedented second year in a row.

We are connecting approximately 600,000 more people to primary health care through new and expanded interprofessional primary care teams with a total additional investment of $546 million over three years, starting in 2024-25.

We are investing an additional $2 billion in the home and community sector to support expansion and increase compensation for front-line workers, because strengthening and growing the health care workforce is critical to both our health care and our economy. That is why we are investing $743 million over three years to help address immediate health care staffing needs and prepare for the future.

We are also adding more health care workers in underserviced communities, with more than $30 million in funding injected to date through the expanded Ontario Learn and Stay Grant program. The grant provides full, upfront funding for tuition, books and other educational costs. The grant is for students who enrol in an eligible nursing, paramedic or medical laboratory technologist program, in return for working in these communities where they studied for a term of service after graduation. The Ontario Learn and Stay Grant program demonstrates how committed we are to building a stronger, more resilient health care workforce in underserved communities in northern, eastern and southwestern Ontario.

Speaker, I want to share how we are building on the historic investment of $3.8 billion over 10 years—this investment is for mental health and addictions services, as part of the Roadmap to Wellness: A Plan to Build Ontario’s Mental Health and Addictions System strategy, by investing $396 million over three years. These funds will go to stabilizing, improving access and expanding existing mental health and addictions services and programs.

We know we need to support individuals facing unstable housing conditions and dealing with mental health and addictions challenges. This is the reason why we are investing an additional $152 million over the next three years towards various supportive housing initiatives designed to support vulnerable people.

Speaker, rising costs have, no doubt, impacted household budgets, and there are no two ways about that.

The government continues to help Ontario’s most vulnerable, including individuals living with mental health and addictions challenges who are experiencing unstable housing conditions, and low-income seniors.

We are ensuring that more seniors who need to get the help they need get it by expanding the Ontario Guaranteed Annual Income System, commonly known as GAINS, and indexing the GAINS benefit to inflation. This change is monumental and will provide financial support to approximately 100,000 additional low-income seniors.

This isn’t the only way we are helping people who may be seeing great strains on their family budgets. For example, we are making electricity more affordable for thousands of additional, low-income families. We are increasing income eligibility thresholds for the Ontario Electricity Support Program up to 35% as of March 1, 2024.

We are helping to provide savings, daily, for riders on participating public transit systems through the One Fare program—savings that average $1,600 per year. The program works by allowing transit riders to only pay once to transfer between GO Transit, the TTC and other participating transit systems in the GTA.

Speaking of GO Transit, we are continuing to work to expand or improve GO Transit, in improving stations and other installations on the Kitchener GO line to enable two-way, all-day service. We are increasing train service between Union Station and the Niagara region, with more express service between Hamilton, Burlington and Toronto.

Our government is also helping drivers; make no mistake, Speaker. In addition to the proposed extending of the existing gasoline and fuel tax rate cuts until December 31, 2024, we are keeping costs down for drivers by proposing to ban any new tolls on new and existing provincial highways and freezing fees on drivers’ licences and Ontario photo cards. These initiatives, when their savings are totalled, will save drivers an estimated $66 million over the next five years.

I can add that in alignment with previous budget commitments, the government is moving forward with auto insurance reforms that would empower Ontario drivers with more affordable options, improved access to benefits, and create a more modern system. As noted in the 2024 budget, implementation of the proposed changes will be done in a way to help ensure that drivers are able to make informed decisions when choosing insurance coverage options that are available to them.

While we are speaking to the needs of Ontario car owners, let me add that we are fighting auto theft with a plan that includes $49 million over three years to help police put auto thieves behind bars. As well, over three years, we are investing $46 million to improve community safety in the greater Toronto area by supporting increased patrols and faster response times to major incidents and serious crimes. This is for the purchase of four police helicopters.

Community safety is absolutely essential. Having and using a reliable car and good mass transit systems are also essential in today’s age.

Having a place to live is, of course, a priority in everybody’s life. A priority of this government is fighting market speculation that may be contributing to people having challenges in finding a place to call home. That is why we are deterring foreign investors from speculating on the province’s housing market by strengthening Ontario’s non-resident speculation tax, the most comprehensive tax of its kind in Canada, with amendments to support compliance and improve fairness.

Education is also, of course, a priority of this government. That is why we are getting students back to basics with close to $172 million for the 2024-25 school year for targeted math and reading supports. As well, an updated kindergarten curriculum is starting in September 2025.

I would be remiss if I didn’t also spotlight a few initiatives related to children and families. For example, the government is increasing the investment in the Ontario Autism Program by $120 million in 2024-25, which will double the increase provided in 2023-24.

We are also providing an additional $13.5 million over three years, on top of existing investments of $1.4 billion over four years, to enhance initiatives that support women, children, youth and others who are at increased risk of violence or exploitation, including an additional $4.5 million over three years for the Victim Quick Response Program+, to increase access to necessities for victims of human trafficking and gender-based violence and their families, especially those in rural and northern communities.

To help young people access mental health services close to home, our government is investing $8.3 million over three years to add five new youth wellness hubs, bringing the total to 32.

Since 2020, the province has established 22 youth wellness hubs which have helped connect over 43,000 youth and their families to mental health and wellness services, accounting for over 168,000 visits. Five more hubs are in the planning stages, set for Port Hope, Thunder Bay, Oxford county, Vaughan, and Brampton. A west Toronto location opened just last January.

Speaker, the Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2024, contains many initiatives that move our plan forward. Of course, it contains the gas and fuel tax I discussed a few moments ago. They include measures relating to the Building Ontario Fund, the taxation of computer animation and special effects productions in the entertainment industry, the taxation of wine, and other measures that impact the pension plan landscape. The measures also propose minor legislative amendments to clarify or improve administrative effectiveness or enforcement or to maintain the integrity and effectiveness of various statutes administered by the Ontario Minister of Finance.

As I conclude my remarks today, let me just say that our government is proud of all it has accomplished, yet we know there remains much more work to be done. In the face of high interest rates and global economic uncertainty, our government is working very hard to keep costs down, to rebuild Ontario so that families, businesses and municipalities that all call Ontario home can prosper. We are on track to make sure Ontario is once again the economic engine of Canada. Most importantly, we will do this while we continue to be prudent and have a responsible approach and retain a path to a balanced budget.

I encourage all members to vote in favour of this bill, Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2024.

I’d now like to pass my time over to my colleague the member from Mississauga–Malton and the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance.

It is always a pleasure to rise in the House to talk about the important things the government is doing.

Speaker, the only thing certain in the life of an MPP is the uncertainty. Last week, when I had the opportunity to talk about the budget, I wasn’t even sure that I was going to be doing the same thing today. Thanks to the Premier and thanks to the confidence of the minister, I am now in the Ministry of Finance. So all I would say is that uncertainty is the only certain thing that we have.

As I rise to speak on second reading, I want to acknowledge the hard work of the Minister of Finance, what he has done along with his two wonderful PAs, the MPP from Oakville and the MPP from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound. I was with them on the committee as well, and I’ve seen the hard work they have put into this budget bill. So I want to acknowledge and thank both of them for their hard work.

I see my former Mississauga–Malton resident and now a councillor in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound; Monica is here, as well. It’s good to see you here, Monica, as we talk about the 2024 budget.

The measures that are contained in this bill to deliver strength to the province of Ontario—we call it our plan to build.

Speaker, I would like to spend a few minutes to put the spotlight on notable initiatives contained in this budget, Building a Better Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2024. These are important measures that each, in their own way, support and help move forward our work as a government.

We all know affordability is an issue. We all know about the federal carbon tax and the pressure it is putting on the people of Ontario. Thankfully, we have a government that believes in the people of Ontario. We’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the people of Ontario to support them in these crises.

One of the most impactful decisions that our government has made which affects the day-to-day life of all Ontarians is the decision to reduce the gas price. We’re introducing proposed legislation that, if passed, would extend existing the gasoline and fuel tax reduction until December 31, 2024. With this extension, we are continuing to keep costs down for families and businesses. As the members of this House are aware, the Ontario government temporarily reduced the gasoline tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre, for diesel, from July 1, 2022, and it was supposed to be finishing up on June 30, 2024. Thanks to this budget, with this newly announced extension, we will make sure that the rates remain at nine cents per litre until December 31, 2024, saving Ontario households $320, on average, over the two and a half years since the tax rate cuts were first introduced.

As the minister said when this proposed extension was unveiled in Mississauga–Lakeshore, our government understands that high inflation and interest rates are hurting Ontario workers and their hard-earned paycheques, and we will be standing shoulder to shoulder with them, continuing to support Ontario families by reducing the cost of gas.

Another thing which I get amazed with is film production. I’m sure many of our colleagues know that we, as Hollywood North, produce close to $3 billion in film production. And that film production is not just content, but it’s an economic powerhouse; it brings in the revolutions. It gives residents the ability to showcase their talent. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we support film production, and we’re not just saying it, but we’re doing things. For example, we are making sure the Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit is simplified. The Ontario Computer Animation and Special Effects Tax Credit, or OCASE for short, is an 18% refundable tax credit available to companies that undertake computer animation and special effects activities on eligible film and television productions in Ontario.

Speaker, if you remember, when we were growing up, Bambi was the first animation movie that we watched—and I do know how much it affects and how much pleasure it gives to our youth and now, in fact, even adults. So this is what we’re doing here again.

To be eligible for this tax credit, a film or television production must also be certified for either the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit or the Ontario Production Services Tax Credit—something we call “tethering” to these other film and television tax credits. The budget measures bill proposes to remove this tethering requirement and seeks to replace it with new eligibility rules to ensure the credit continues to only support professional productions. In other words, we are making sure that we are delivering on the government’s commitment to explore opportunities to reduce red tape, simplify tax credit support for computer animation and special effects activities, so that we can see a lot more production, a lot more economic activities.

This budget is full of wonderful things to support the province and the people of the province; for example, supporting our workers.

Madam Speaker, I remember when my father retired, after all his hard work for over 35 years working in a government job. It gave him pleasure to do things which he wanted to do now that he had some time. On one side, he had time, but on the other side, he was worried about the cost of living, his expenses and the compensation. And he’s not alone. After working hard, we want to make sure that we can continue to have a lifestyle that we have built over years.

This is the way our government is making sure we help those workers who helped us to build a greater, stronger Ontario.

We’re making progress concerning Ontario’s pension plan landscape. We’re working to implement a permanent target-benefit framework. If you’re a worker, if you’re in the industry, please join our hands—help us to build this.

Following consultations over the past year, legislative amendments to the Pension Benefits Act are being proposed through the 2024 budget bill. These amendments would implement policy changes arising from the 2023 stakeholder consultations, as well as legislative housekeeping matters. We are currently preparing the regulations that would be necessary to implement the target-benefit framework which the government intends to come into effect on January 1, 2025.

Target-benefit pension plans will provide a monthly stream of income in retirement, with predictable contributions for employers. Implementation of a permanent target-benefit framework would pave the way for more employers to offer workplace pension plans, increasing the opportunities for workers to save for their retirement. This is yet another way we’re working for our Ontario workers.

In 2023, as we know, employment in Ontario increased by 2.5%—increases in both full-time and part-time. Under the previous Liberal-NDP government, we saw 300,000 jobs going out of manufacturing. Since 2018, there are 700,000 more people working in the province of Ontario—helping, contributing and building Ontario.

Interjections.

I recognize the member for Mississauga–Malton.

Thank you to the member for Essex for that encouragement to the government for building a better, stronger Ontario—speaking of which, to the member for Essex, I want to talk about the Building Ontario Fund. We look at the revenue of Ontario going from $150 billion to $200-billion-plus. It’s no coincidence; it is the policy put in place by this government—making sure and helping business to invest in Ontario.

I’ll give you an example. I was talking to a pension fund—and he explained to me that they’re investing $60 billion for infrastructure projects in India. I happened to ask them, “Why don’t you do it here, close to home, close to the heart, where we can invest that money into the infrastructure here, build a stronger Ontario, stronger Canada, and bring more investments into Canada?” When we do this, the revenue is going to increase. When we increase the revenue, it gives us more opportunity to serve Ontarians, flow back into more services.

Thankfully, we have a solution now. The budget measures would establish Ontario’s new infrastructure bank—the Building Ontario Fund—in a new, stand-alone statute. This fund is another step in our government’s plan to build and attract top-quality investment to Ontario and fund infrastructure that would otherwise probably not get built.

The Ontario Infrastructure Bank was announced in the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review as an important tool to attract capital to help build essential infrastructure. The Building Ontario Fund continues to make progress in laying the foundation of future successes as it establishes a governance framework and builds out the organization, including recruitment of the chief executive officer. The fund is also exploring opportunities to support large-scale projects in the post-secondary student housing, long-term care, energy generation and municipal infrastructure sectors.

This gives an opportunity to all our colleagues. I call each one of us the champion of our riding. We’ve been elected by the people to represent their voice, but at the same time to help them build a better riding as well.

So I encourage all the members of this House to go back to your riding, talk to your stakeholders, identify those projects. Bring those projects, whether it is, for example, in Brampton South, building up another housing for Sheridan College, or maybe building up another residence in Kingston or maybe a long-term-care—as we’re talking about all this progress.

We’re talking about EV batteries—maybe building another EV plant. I was talking to another stakeholder in my region of Peel: Sony Electronics. They’re building up EV chargers.

To build all this infrastructure, we need money—the municipal infrastructure sector. For example, my councillor, Brad Butt, always talks about building a bridge that can connect Etobicoke with Mississauga. It will save a lot of time. It’s not just saving time—it will make sure that the people of Ontario who are driving on that bridge have more time with their family and have better productivity. By doing so, we can encourage more investments coming into Ontario, building our revenue base as well.

So what is this doing? The fund is currently engaging with Canadian entities with long-term investment horizons and an Ontario-based post-secondary institution to help finance new student housing projects. This fund is also exploring opportunities with partners to finance major energy generation projects, including attracting investment to build new nuclear projects.

For example, we can build green hydrogen. We have trucks, and the trucks need DEF, diesel exhaust fluid. To make that diesel fluid, we need urea, and to make that urea, right now we’re using ammonia. Instead of using ammonia, we can use hydrogen, which is made by electrolysis through electricity. To do that, we need infrastructure. And that’s exactly what this fund is going to do.

First announced in the 2023 Ontario Economic Outlook and Fiscal Review, the fund is an important tool to attract capital to help build essential infrastructure.

Madam Speaker, as the government moves forward with Ontario’s plan to build, the fund will act as a tool to attract capital, to help meet the infrastructure needs of a growing Ontario and ensure that we are building the critical infrastructure necessary to support all Ontarians.

We all know that at the end of every paycheque, a small amount of money is deducted as a pension. All these pension funds collect that money and invest in projects so that they can increase the size of that pension and help the recipients of their pension fund at the time of their retirement. Rather than investing this pension fund across the globe, what if we created opportunities right here at home? We’d have double benefit. We could invest that money into the infrastructure. Our Ontarians would get the benefit. We’d get them more investment, and those pension funds would be able to increase their benefits to the pension fund holders by investing those funds. So it’s a win-win situation. I hope all the members in this House will go back to their ridings, look at those projects and support us in these kinds of pension fund investments.

Madam Speaker, our goal very simple—simple but powerful. The government is working hard to build a better Ontario. That is what we’re doing through this budget, with many examples of new and expanded initiatives to meet these objectives. And we’re doing it all across province. We truly believe that when we make investments across each sector, each geographical location, and when we support Ontario, we build a better, stronger Ontario.

How are we doing it? I’ll give you some examples. Let’s start with $94 million over three years to enhance the health and well-being of Indigenous and northern communities, with culturally responsive and safe care tailored to community needs—investing $1.1 million in funding to Maamwesying North Shore Community Health Services, to support the Soo and surrounding First Nation communities; helping Indigenous workers in northern Ontario train for rewarding careers, with $7.3 million through the Skills Development Fund.

These are not just numbers. These are the actions on the ground. We’ve seen, for far too long, the north was left behind by the previous government. That is why we’re providing the investment needed to ensure it has the support it needs today.

Let’s look at the southern region.

On the communications front, we are investing more than $63 million in the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology project to bring high-speed Internet access to over 64,000 more homes, businesses and farms across southwestern Ontario.

As the member from Chatham-Kent is smiling and saying—it’s not just the Internet; when you bring the fast Internet, you bring the investment. When you see these investments made, the businesses come.

Our longest-serving member on this side, from Oxford, is nodding and saying, “Yes, these are the important investments we need to make now,” so that we can utilize that fund which we just talked about, so that we can have these pension funds coming and making those investments, so that we can increase the revenue for Ontario, so that we can spend that money in doing more for the people of Ontario. So it’s like a circular economy. We’re making sure that we work hard, we make more money, we invest that money, we give more service. As people are happy, we bring more investment. When we bring more investment, we increase the revenue. Let’s continue that cycle.

I’m very passionate about Mississauga–Malton, so I can’t resist talking about the Hazel McCallion LRT line. A downtown loop would connect the city of Mississauga’s Square One district, and the Main Street extension would bring the LRT into downtown Brampton.

Madam Speaker, I still remember the time when the Hazel McCallion line was named after Hazel McCallion. She was standing right next to me, and she said, “It sounds so weird. It looks so weird. The majority of these names were done when the person is gone. I’m actually naming my own line, in front of me”—but that goes to the hard work she had done; that goes to the supreme power that had been blessed to her.

To Hazel: I still remember that time, and I want to say thank you for all your hard work. And “Do Your Homework”—that mantra that you gave is the one which is helping us, as well.

I don’t have much time left, and there’s a lot more to cover, so I’m going to talk a little bit of eastern Ontario, as well—I don’t want to say only about northern and then southern; when I meet the members from eastern Ontario at the time of AMO, they’re going to say, “Oh, you guys didn’t talk about us.”

In eastern Ontario, we’re planning new campsites in provincial parks. We are electrifying provincial park campsites, including at Sandbanks.

We are continuing our government’s plan to build long-term-care homes across Ontario. We are opening new long-term-care homes in the region, including Woodland Villa, for example, in Long Sault. It opened in December 2023, with 17 new long-term-care beds and 111 upgraded long-term-care beds.

We’re improving services and supports for people in eastern Ontario—such as, in Ottawa, maintaining supportive housing for Salus that includes relocating 79 displaced low-income tenants with mental health and/or addiction needs.

We’re investing more in primary health care teams, including, in Kingston, more than $4 million in funding that will help up to 10,000 people connect to team-based primary health care.

In Peterborough, for example, more than $3 million in funding will allow the newly established Peterborough Community Health Centre to connect up to 11,375 people to team-based primary care.

On the highway infrastructure front and the economic main cable that is Highway 401, we are replacing Highway 401’s Hallecks Road bridge in Leeds and Grenville and widening the 401 easterly from Brock Road in Pickering, and replacing bridges in Port Hope.

These are some of the examples.

I highly encourage the people of Ontario to take a look at the budget book. It’s pretty detailed. It gives you a lot of investments that our government is making, with your help, so that we can build a better, stronger Ontario. As the members of the government, we have been talking about it; we’re not the only ones, though. We go out and we ask people how we’re doing.

I’ll start with a quote from the mayor of Burlington. She said, “We are thankful that the province is listening to municipalities and working with our mayors to address the issues we are facing in our communities....”

The CEO of the Ontario Medical Association said, “Ontario’s doctors welcome the health care investment in this budget. The OMA identified three urgent priorities in our Prescription for Ontario: Doctors’ Solutions for Immediate Action and asked the government for action.... We look forward to working together with the government and our partners on continuing to build a system for today and the future.”

The president and CEO of TRBOT, the Toronto Region Board of Trade, said this: “Following 20 years of massive population growth in the Toronto region, this ‘building budget’ is what the doctor ordered. We applaud the government’s significant investment in critical transportation....”

These are quotes from people across our province.

To conclude, I would like to pick up the torch of a theme the minister said. Yes, like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face economic uncertainty and pressure due to high interest rates and global instability. These pressures are being felt day to day by Ontario families, businesses and municipalities. Yet, in the face of these pressures, our government is going to continue to work hard and to build a stronger Ontario, the course this bill helps move forward.

That is why I’m very confident that not only the members of the government, but each and every member of this House will support building a stronger, better Ontario by supporting the Building a Better Ontario Act, 2024.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Planning grants for hospitals are critically important.

We are building hospitals across the province of Ontario. When we took power, when we were elected in 2018, the health care system in Ontario was in dismal shape. We had a shortage of nurses, doctors; closing of hospitals. Our focus is getting that rebuilt. And we lived through COVID, I might add, in between all that. But our focus is still resolute. We are here; we have shovels in the ground in the Niagara Health System, Scarborough Health Network, Ottawa Hospital, Cambridge Memorial and more. We will continue to stay focused on building health teams and the infrastructure that they need to be able to operate efficiently.

Infrastructure is critically important wherever you are in the province. Whether you’re in downtown Toronto, in downtown Ottawa, in Collingwood, in Oakville, in Burlington, it’s critically important.

Our government is committed to working with the municipalities to make sure they have the proper investments. In this budget, we’ve put through a billion dollars in the Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program.

We’re also quadrupling the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund, which I think will help a lot of municipalities that are in dire need of effective, cost-effective safe water and systems in their municipalities.

We’ll continue to work with all municipalities across the province to ensure they have the infrastructure they need for the growing population.

In terms of my community, specifically, in Oakville—I could talk for hours on this, but I’ll focus on one or two issues of how this budget is helping people.

This budget is helping commuters. My town is a major community that has commuters going to downtown Toronto on a daily or regular basis. Many of them take Oakville Transit and then transfer to the GO station. Well, now, one tap, one pay—$1,600 a year. That is an incredible savings. And that’s after-tax dollars that people are saving. That is enormously going to help them.

Also, the gas tax cut that we’re putting through and proposing to extend to December 31 is going to save all those commuters who are driving in Oakville.

This budget is focused on helping affordability throughout the province of Ontario.

I want to start by saying thank you to the member opposite for talking about affordability, something this government takes very, very seriously.

This is a government—all the members strongly stood up in this House and talked again and again about scrapping the carbon tax. We talked about reducing the cost of gas. The member from Oak Ridges talked about the One Fare program that will help and make sure that commuters can save $1,600.

We are continuing with our previous decision to expand the LIFT, the low-income workers tax credit, to provide more relief to low-income Ontario workers, and of course, reducing the gas reduction, which I spoke about—$320 in savings.

Madam Speaker, I truly believe this is a government that believes and understands that affordability is an issue. We are here to support our residents of Ontario, and we’ll make sure we’ll continue to build those measures to help Ontarians.

Speaker, this budget—and you’ve been listening carefully, I know, this afternoon—reflects the government’s commitment to housing, health care, infrastructure and economic development. I’d like the member from Oakville to talk about the effects of the budget in those particular areas, please.

We’re going to move to questions.

As we are debating the budget, we should be debating the priorities of the government for the province. I would have hoped to have seen tangible health care investment for folks in my neck of the woods.

Specifically, something missing from this budget was what would be about $3 million—the cost of a planning grant to allow Lakeridge Health to begin the advanced planning and design work on a much-needed hospital in the Durham region. An expert panel selected Whitby. The Premier said we’d be getting a planning grant soon.

So my question to the Minister of Finance, who happens to be the MPP for Pickering–Uxbridge: When will the minister let Lakeridge Health get that planning grant, get started with that grant to begin the design work and start the wheels turning for health care in the Durham region?

My question is for the parliamentary assistant. One of the things I always look for in the budget is the four-laning of Highway 69 to Sudbury. It took till page 56 to find this phrase—here’s one sentence: “Continue to widen Highway 69 from two to four lanes, from Parry Sound to Sudbury.”

Interjection.

So are you doubling, tripling, quadrupling the amount of work you’ve done in the past? Zero times anything is zero. When are you going to get this done?

My question is for the member from Oakville.

A big priority for this government is making sure that we get much-needed housing built across the province and the different types that we need. One of the impediments for that is infrastructure shortages.

I know in my riding of Simcoe–Grey there are a number of municipalities that have water and waste water issues that they’ve got to clear up so that they can grow in a planned and intentional way. I’m wondering if the member could tell us how this budget is going to help accommodate that.

We’ll go to the next question.

I want to thank both parliamentary assistants and the minister for their remarks today.

I know one thing that we’re used to in Windsor-Essex is announcements followed by no follow-through—Highway 3 was one, named Bruce Crozier’s Way in honour of the late MPP for Essex, but then 10 years of inaction.

One of the great announcements that was part of this budget was the E.C. Row Expressway/Banwell Road interchange—$50 million. This is transformative for my community—both my municipalities.

I want to find out from the parliamentary assistant what the benefits are of investments in infrastructure, in terms of employment, in terms of commute times, getting people home to their families and helping the people of Ontario.

Thank you to the member from Windsor–Tecumseh.

You raise a good point about what kind of return you get on infrastructure. The previous Liberal government spent a lot of money, as we all know; I don’t think we saw much for that. We didn’t see efficient transit. We didn’t see schools being built; in fact, they were being closed—over 600, I believe, in the province at that time. Hospitals were in dire shape.

Investing in infrastructure is a long-term payoff. It helps people on a personal level when you have the hospitals and the facilities to be able to support them through their difficult times. It’s also an investment.

As you’ve mentioned, the roads that we are building and widening in the Windsor–Tecumseh area—that’s a critical border point, and having trucks be able to move more efficiently across the border will get goods to their market quicker, more efficiently and safely. It will also help families who are commuting and driving their kids to soccer practice or going back and forth to school or work. It’s going to let them get there safely. So it has a dual effect of being positive from a financial point of view but also on a personal and a family issue, as well.

I think it’s so symbolic that I get to start my one-hour lead on this particular budget for 2024 just as a solar eclipse will be hitting southwestern Ontario.

Interjection: Dark times.

Bill 180 obviously will have an impact on the people of this province.

I’m listening to the government members as they talk about the highways and the infrastructure; they leave out people a lot.

You can talk about opening a bed, but you certainly can’t open that bed without a nurse or without a health care worker.

So complicated is this relationship now between the people who serve the public and the Ford government that they’re actually moving further and further apart.

If you really want to build a strong province that’s inclusive, that’s reaching its potential, that’s meeting its climate change targets and that’s actually building on the spirit of the people of this province, you have to talk about people. And those people are still feeling the impacts of your unconstitutional piece of legislation, Bill 124. In fact, I would say that this province is going to be feeling the negative impacts of that wage theft—really, wage theft, and also wage control—in Bill 124.

It has been quite a day. I just want to start off by saying it was really powerful this morning—I was really pleased to welcome the Roth family to Queen’s Park. It has been emotional, because we all care so deeply about mental health. It’s one thing to care about an issue, but that caring and that compassion need to also translate into direct investments, into resources. As I’ve said many times in this House, when people have the courage to come forward and to ask for help, the system has to be there for them. We’ve done a lot of work on the stigma around mental health and mental illness, and so now people do feel like they can actually talk about their feelings, whether they’re farmers or construction workers or young people like Kaitlyn Roth. And those resources need to be there.

I want to thank the minister responsible for mental health. He did meet with the family after today’s question period. This is the third time we’ve met with that minister. I will tell you, as the Waterloo rep, the MPP, and also the finance and Treasury Board critic, I want that minister to have access to the funding that the government is promising, I want that funding to flow, and I want it to be a smart investment.

That’s why we’re so committed to the alternative destination for those who are suffering from mental health issues and a crisis. The emergency room is not the best place. From a basic, common sense perspective, I would hope that we could all agree that if you are in crisis, going to the emergency room and waiting 18 hours, with police there, with people in pain, with people in crisis—it’s not the best place. Let’s work together on this and redirect people to these alternative destination clinics, where people are trained, where they’re going to be met with compassion, where there’s going to be some empathy, where there are going to be some special strategies so that people feel supported—like Kaitlyn. When people fall through those cracks, we lose our potential as a province. I think that’s probably one of the most painful things about suicide. Kaitlyn was so talented and so smart. She wanted to work with special-needs children. Lord knows, we have a wait-list of 60,000 people who are on the autism spectrum who need that resource and need that compassion.

So I want to thank the members who were supportive this morning, and I want to thank the Roth family.

I also want to say a special happy birthday to my daughter. She’s 23 today. She’s navigating the world of retail. She’s a business leader with an American company here in Canada. And let me tell you, it’s not the best place to land as a young worker, but she’s learning some good lessons, and I’m very proud of her.

As I mentioned, the eclipse is set to happen very soon. I hope that everybody is being safe with regard to that. I want to thank the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo for sending me some guidelines and sending me some fancy glasses that you literally cannot see anything out of, which I think is the idea. We’re lucky to have the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo region as an anchor company that is doing some amazing work.

I do want to say, as we talk about this budget—and some members have heard me talk about this. Budgets really are moral documents. They really, truly tell the story of the priorities of the government of the day. They tell the story of where the money is going and/or where the money is not going. There are a lot of places, with this particular government, where the money is not going, where it needs to be going, which would actually save the province money down the line, and I’ll get to that in a second.

The need for government transparency is akin to the darkness before a solar eclipse, so you’re going to see how I’m going to tie this all together. What we have here in Ontario is a solar eclipse of common sense. And when I say common sense, there are good places to—

Interjection.

If I start singing Bonnie Tyler, we’re all in trouble here—which will not happen. A total eclipse of the sun. The hair in those days was really special.

The need for government transparency is akin to the darkness before a solar eclipse, highlighting the importance of shedding light on the government’s actions, for public scrutiny.

Boy, I’ve never seen a government that is so resistant to sharing what’s actually happening in Ontario—aside from the commercials that we’re all paying for that tell us this fairy tale where people can afford housing, where people can find jobs, where people can find a doctor, or ensure that you can go and get the appropriate mental health resources that you need.

This decline in transparency, particularly with this government, based on what I’m hearing from people in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, is a loss of trust. That loss of trust really started right from 2018, when the government who said, “We’re never going to interfere with municipal governments,” cut city council in half—during an election, at midnight, no less.

This was a government that said, “We’re tough on law and order,” and yet, we have a justice system that is failing to meet the needs of both victims and the accused, I would say, where a record number of court cases have been stayed. I’m particularly concerned about those sexual assault cases.

Last week, our critic to the Attorney General hosted a press conference here and had two victims of sexual assault come to this place and talk about how they were denied justice in Ontario.

When you deny justice, it’s really hard to be talking about being tough on crime, as this government likes to espouse.

And so, just as the solar eclipse reveals the hidden layers of the sun, this budget reveals that the government is failing to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in Ontario. I believe that to be true. I believe that when I tell people in Waterloo and demonstrate how this government is failing so—I would say they’re overachieving on the failing perspective. The people in Waterloo hear it. They see it. They feel it. They’re experiencing it. And I’m going to talk about some of those people.

Just as a little joke—how does the man in the moon cut his hair? Some people say, “How?” Eclipse it; they eclipse it—

Interjections.

I know it’s bad. It’s bad, and it’s in history now.

I see my colleague from Kitchener–Conestoga is get-ting ready for the total eclipse of the sun—and hopefully he doesn’t break out into song.

There are a couple of areas that I really want to highlight, just to pull us all back.

There is a tendency of this government to side on behalf of the private sector, which is ironic, because as parlia-mentarians we take an oath to serve the public with integrity and we put the public first.

One of the issues that has really resonated—and this kind of reminds me of back when the former Liberal Premier was saying, “We’re never going to sell off parts of hydro,” but then they did. Then, the hydro costs continue to go up because of the cost escalation.

My friend and colleague from Toronto–Danforth, who is our energy critic, has been following what has been happening with Enbridge and the decisions that this government is making on the energy file.

It would surprise most people in the province of Ontario to learn that the government is subsidizing energy costs to the tune of $7.8 billion. It’s steadily going up. It’s across the board. Everybody gets the subsidy. If you are a super rich person or if you’re a super poor person, you are getting the same energy subsidy. I’m pretty sure Galen Weston can pay his own energy bills. The government has never considered even a sliding scale to address true affordability measures.

What they are doing—and I’m just going to read directly from one of the op-eds that my colleague wrote—is that they’re busy breaking their own promise on energy and housing affordability. In the latest twist, this government “plans to pass legislation in February”—which is now before the House, before the committee, even today—“that will raise energy bills across the province and make life more expensive for new homebuyers.” Does this sound like a common sense thing to be doing in a cost-of-living crisis? Of course, it does not. Two of the highest drivers, really, for people in Ontario are the cost of housing, and then, of course, the day-to-day costs, like groceries, and I’m going to talk about that.

So this government is reversing an excellent decision by Ontario’s independent energy regulator, and I talked about this on the budget motion, because it defies all sense. Why would you not listen to the independent energy regulator when they’re saying this is in the best interests of the province of Ontario, which you should be interested in as well? It all goes back to a subsidy that most gas customers do not even know that they’re funding.

Right now, your gas bill is funding a huge subsidy worth hundreds of millions of dollars each year to cover the cost of expanding gas pipelines into new developments. Most people in Ontario don’t know this. On December 21, the Ontario independent energy regulator decided to put a stop to the subsidy because it raises energy bills for existing customers and new homebuyers, while also increasing financial risk for the whole gas system. In fact, the independent regulator highlighted stranded assets—because we’re building an energy sector in a way that they used to in the 1950s, not in 2024.

Ending the subsidy would save gas customers over $1 billion over four years in avoided pipeline subsidy costs, which comes to almost $300 per customer, plus interest profit payments paid by customers to Enbridge Gas on those amounts. Is this what the government is doing? No, they’re not doing that. They’re not going to try to save you $300 a year.

“Ending the subsidy will also encourage developers to install heat pumps”—which we heard at pre-budget committee would actually speed up housing starts. Is this government having great difficulty meeting your own housing start targets? Yes, you are. Do you need some help? You definitely need some help—“in new homes, which provide much cheaper heating and cooling, instead of gas,” for new homebuyers. So not only would these heat pump installations actually fast-track housing starts, which is a good thing; it would also provide cheaper heating and cooling for new homebuyers. Is this an affordability issue? Of course, it’s an affordability issue.

“Ending the subsidy would be a win-win-win-win,” said my friend and colleague from Toronto–Danforth. It would lower energy bills for existing customers. It would lower energy bills for new homebuyers. It would lower carbon emissions, and avoid even more cost down the road to convert away from fossil fuel heating in the houses built with heat pumps from the start.

This is a good plan that the independent regulator came forward with for Ontario.

There is, however, one loser in this whole issue, and that is Enbridge Gas. It would lose millions of dollars in profits, and shareholders might not make as much money as they wanted to. But Ontarians would save money. Who are we elected to serve? Ontarians, right?

So here we are. Enbridge Gas is right here. They were here this morning. They’re lobbying hard against the decision and have launched two challenges, so this government is going to be back in court, I guess. Its court challenge boldly complains that the decision will mean that, “Enbridge Gas has no right or ability to invest and earn a return on capital for new customer connections.” In other words, it will reduce their profits. So they are a company that is fighting for their profits.

I ask you, who is fighting to keep costs down for Ontarians? Not this government, because they have clearly sided with Enbridge Gas. In fact, the minister, MPP Smith, has announced that they will pass legislation to overturn this decision. The Ontario government seems to have been convinced that the change will reduce housing supply and affordability, but developers can just forgo gas and install heat pumps instead for little or no additional cost and sometimes even a savings. This could actually be good for developers as well, if developers are dedicated to actually building housing. But the question remains: Why should every other gas customer in Ontario be forced to pay to subsidize them to install this fossil fuel infrastructure and then be forced to pay Enbridge profits on top of that? Is this a fair situation for Ontario voters, for Ontario citizens? Absolutely not. Is the government truly showing their hand by siding with Enbridge? Absolutely.

This is what we also know—you can’t really get a clear answer from the government on this, but this is where we are right now: Gas is no longer the cheapest heating source. Investing in gas pipelines for heating is financially foolish because they will become obsolete as we decarbonize buildings. It is 2024; we should be talking about this. The government’s own expert electrification panel noted “growing indications that it is unlikely that the natural gas grid can be decarbonized and continue to deliver cost-effective building heat.”

Our neighbours—we hear a lot from the Premier about Texas, which always makes me want to break out into a Beyoncé song—like New York state and Montreal are prohibiting gas in new construction. I want to re-emphasize that: New York state is prohibiting gas in new construction.

Passing legislation to reinstate a subsidy is completely out of step and risks financial disaster down the road.

The Minister of Energy has clearly shown that he is on the side of Enbridge and not on the side of Ontarians who will face higher gas bills, instead of providing an opportunity of $300 in savings. Unfortunately, there are obviously major misconceptions about the broader issues, in part due to a great deal of misinformation. Right now, this is happening in committee, where this debate is happening.

Enbridge is fighting for their profits. We need the government to fight for the people, to keep those costs down.

We definitely think that the Ontario Energy Board made the right decision, based on evidence, to lower your energy bills. And we’re going to continue to raise these issues in this House.

What a perfect example, though, to clearly demonstrate who this government is working for.

We’ve seen some other escalations, if you will, in other ministries—particularly on health care. My God, we cannot afford to privatize health care any further. We’ve got to hold the line and we’ve got to walk it back; there’s no doubt about it. When this government spent $1 billion last year on agency nurses instead of hiring nurses in our acute-care and community care centres—this is not only fiscally irresponsible, but it is actually failing to meet the needs of communities.

I’ve talked about my future daughter-in-law. She’s a nurse—excellent, top of her class—working in the NICU, working with those little babies. Grand River Hospital is not hiring nurses. How can it be?

Clearly, choices are being made here around where the money is going to be spent or where the money is not going to be spent, but it certainly isn’t being invested in our health care human resources crisis.

The minister can talk about all the numbers she wants. Three emergency rooms were closed this weekend in southwestern Ontario. If you’re in a community and you need to go to the emergency room, you need that emergency room to be open. Surely we can agree on this. But in order for that emergency room to be open, you need to have nurses and medical professionals there.

What we have seen in Ontario is a mass migration of these very talented people, some of whom studied here, some of whom received support to study here, some of whom are very invested in medical research and the life sciences file. They’re leaving Ontario because Ontario is such a hostile place right now, in the health care sector.

When you talk to people who are in the health care system and they have an agency nurse working right alongside them and they can’t get a full-time job, but this nurse beside them is making twice or three times as much money—can you imagine what that does to morale? It is counterproductive. It’s counterintuitive. It’s fiscally irresponsible. I said this to the Minister of Finance—that we cannot afford $1 billion in agency nurses.

Let’s invest in human health resources in this province. Let’s demonstrate that we’re committed to retaining these people in the system, but also recruiting into the system. In order for that to be successful, the system can’t be broken; the system has to be a healthy place. That’s how you recruit back into the health care system.

These are very conscious, very committed decisions that the government is making. They refuse to close the loopholes on these private health care agencies that see the market here in Ontario because 2.3 million Ontarians don’t have a doctor. They see the loophole. The government sees the loophole. And now they’re charging anywhere between $450 a year to have access to a doctor, all the way up to $4,900.

In the public session in the public accounts earlier today, our health critic brought forward a motion and she said, “Let’s have the auditor look into this. Let’s follow the money.”

These agencies, let’s also remember, are being subsidized by OHIP, as well. So the taxpayers are funding the profit margins in these health care agencies. This is happening in Ontario. In fact, these health care agencies are popping up just as much as cannabis store clusters—Waterloo has about nine in a three-block radius; I don’t know what’s going on, exactly, with that. These businesses see a market share here in Ontario that has been intentionally created by this government.

When you purposefully create a crisis by not funding health care, you are, in turn, creating a whole new market share for for-profit health care. So that is happening.

In fact, we even have for-profit plasma centres opening up in one of the poorest areas in Hamilton. A European company has said, “Do you know what? They’ve done such a terrible job of promoting and supporting blood services in Ontario and in Canada that we’re going to go there and we’re going to offer to pay for plasma and pay for blood in the poorest neighbourhood, where people are the most desperate.” They’re the most desperate. They’re looking for some revenue because they’re poor. They’re easily—the argument can be made to them that they’re doing something good, but this is the new culture of Ontario, where we’ll buy anything. Anything is for sale in Ontario,, and it’s quite a development, I have to say.

The other thing is, here you have a government defending Enbridge and trying to hold their profit margins at a certain level through legislation, which even undermines the government’s own initiatives. And then Enbridge goes and cuts off rebates, leaving some homeowners on the hook for thousands in green renovation costs. This is bold. This is so bold, I would have to say, that Enbridge has said, “Do you know what? We’re not going to honour those rebates.”

This was just in the paper last week—that “most Ontarians’ carbon footprint is dominated by natural gas heating.” One lady decided to swap out her furnace for a heat pump. She applied for the government rebates. “Knowing there were $10,000 in government rebates available from the federal government and Enbridge Gas”—this was a partnership; it was a collaboration—they “went further with their renovation” to reduce their carbon footprint. They changed out their furnace for a heat pump; they upgraded some windows. And then what did Enbridge do? “We applied and we got confirmation to go ahead”—great, but then, when things were done and they had made commitments to contractors and thus, Enbridge said, “No, we’re not going to honour that commitment.”

So is this the new normal, where the government is not even protecting consumers on policies and programs that the government has negotiated?

One homeowner said, “This is a significant upfront cost to the homeowner. We’re not talking hundreds of dollars here”—we’re talking thousands. “Times are tough. Inflation is insane. Everyone’s mortgage is up for renewal and they’ve just put thousands of Ontarians in a really tough position to be able to manage these costs that they were not anticipating.”

So the energy minister is defending Enbridge, and then Enbridge is saying to people that they have agreed to have a contract around reducing their gas costs, that they’re not going to honour that commitment anymore. But who is the Minister of Energy going to bat for? He’s going to bat for Enbridge. You can’t even make it up.

This is an ongoing issue for Ontarians, who really feel abandoned by the government. The government is making very poor choices on the energy file, which is a huge cost to the province of Ontario. This speaks to priorities—and I feel like it’s getting darker. I think that it’s actually happening, and it does feel very symbolic to me, I have to tell you.

I’m going to talk a little bit about—and this is along the same theme of how the government is making decisions. We have all agreed in this House now, for years, that at 319 acres a day—the fact that we are losing these acres every single day in Ontario is not sustainable, nor is it a practice that any government should be endorsing or condoning.

In Wilmot township, farmers in that township just outside of Waterloo—not in my riding—in January, were approached by some developers who heard that 770 acres of prime agricultural land would be rezoned. It wasn’t in the official plan. If this sounds familiar—I’m already calling it greenbelt 2.0. The fact of the matter is that these farmers knew that they weren’t part of the official plan for development. The region has traditionally had a very balanced and positive relationship with farmers. We are an agricultural community. We believe that farmers feed cities. The citizens love the fact that we had a countryside line around the region which would focus our attention on building up, building smart, investing in the needed infrastructure, but not being wasteful with sprawl—more and more and more sprawl. So when this government rolled back their Bill 23 and the urban boundaries, and said, “Do you know what? We’re really, really sorry”—I just want to tell you, Madam Speaker, they weren’t that sorry, because they’re still carving out parcels of land and they’re making it available, bypassing the provincial environmental strategy, bypassing municipal plans, quite honestly. So this government has been very complicit and a willing participant, even though they were very sorry. They were sorry about the $8.3 billion in land acquisitions that some developers were going to benefit from. And we also know that this was never really about housing; right?

In Waterloo region now, we have farmers who are being forced off their land. They received lowball offers, somewhere around $35,000 per acre. But as soon as that one acre turns into an industrial proposition, it goes to $1 million? This is exactly what happened in the greenbelt—someone told someone who happens to be a developer that this land was now going to be industrial land, so it’s for economic development.

We also strongly believe that rural communities can be a strong partner in economic development, but, boy, it shouldn’t come at the cost of 770 acres of some of the best farmland in Ontario. These six farmers on this 770 acres—one of those families has been there since 1861. Out of nowhere, not part of any official plan, not part of any public consultation—no transparency whatsoever—farmers got a fellow, a third party from the States to come to them and say, “I’ll give you $35,000 for each acre, or you’re going to be expropriated by the region.”

Imagine being a contributor to the very fabric of our country and of our province and of our community, the very people we all espouse to say we respect and honour—this time-honoured tradition and profession of being stewards of the land and feeders of the city, and it’s $35,000 or you’re off, you’re expropriated. Forget that these are also six really productive family businesses.

Farming is a hard life; we can agree on this. There are not too many farmers in here, although I have worked with a couple over the years. They have to be tough, because it’s a tough profession.

The region has looked at the Get It Done piece of legislation, and schedule 1, which eases the onerous red tape—I guess, if you will, or blue tape—of expropriating land without an environmental assessment that meets the needs of the conservation authorities. They usually are consulted. Of course, the conservation authorities in Ontario have really been cut off at the knees, if you will. They’re not even consulted on key environmental decisions that are happening. Nobody even asked them, “What about the flood plain? What about the aquifer?”

I just want to say at the very top of this that economic development does not have to come at the cost of prime agricultural farmland. This is a false choice, and it’s a choice that this government doesn’t want to even talk about. Most of regional council have signed nondisclosure agreements, so these farmers don’t even have anybody to ask a question like, “What’s going to be developed on there? How thorough was the environmental assessment?”

While this 770 acres is not directly over the aquifer, it’s 200 metres away from it. And I don’t know if you know this, Madam Speaker, but water doesn’t just go down; water moves. We know this.

We have the knowledge, we have the power to make the right decisions, and yet this government brings forward legislation that is so open to the overriding of basic rights.

I’ve said this: Something is fundamentally unjust about what’s happening to farmers in Wilmot right now. I don’t know how you would feel if someone came to your farm and said, “Do you know what? An undisclosed industrial project is needed, and therefore you must leave your land.” It would be cartoonish if it wasn’t so very serious—because 80% of the drinking water that Waterloo region accesses is from the moraine; it is from the ground. So we are very protective of our source water protection; we have to be. We cannot afford to have a pipeline to Lake Erie or Lake Huron. Nobody wants that. The smart investment is to ensure that we become true stewards of the land.

In 2024, the fact that this government is so complicit in the paving of 770 acres of prime farmland, knowing the history of what has happened around water in the PC Party is astounding to me. It is so—it’s not even the 1950s; it’s like the 1850s here. Do you know what I mean?

I’ve written to the Premier. I know the Ontario Federation of Agriculture has asked the province to intervene, to pause and take a sober second thought, because once this land is gone, it is gone forever.

No consultation; no transparency; strong-arming farmers; no environmental assessment that we can see, that we can build some confidence in; and also a lack of process. Like, where else could this rumoured electric vehicle battery plant go? Do you know what I know for sure? You can’t eat an electric vehicle battery.

We definitely need to be focused on food security. If we’ve learned anything from the pandemic and having to be dependent on other jurisdictions, we need to be self-sufficient as a province. We need people to understand that the province is supportive of farming and of farms. We need new generations to look at that profession and that trade with some confidence that this is going to be something that the province of Ontario actually supports. We’re moving in the opposite direction—and it is getting darker, just on cue, for sure.

Total eclipse of the sun.