I want to thank the member for Don Valley West for her presentation. I’m wondering, because I know the member has expertise in financial management and a financial background, and you’ve commented a lot on what you believe to be the deficiencies from a financial perspective in the government’s budget—spending a whole lot, as the member from Ottawa South often likes to say, for not a lot.

Transit: I’m looking at a government that—unless you look at the city of Toronto, thanks to Mayor Olivia Chow—we don’t have a lot of money for operating the buses that we operate in many of our municipalities. Certainly in Ottawa, we’re 74,000 service hours short for OC Transpo this year because of government cutbacks. But meanwhile, the cost of building transit under the Conservative government has climbed to a billion dollars per kilometre for the Ontario Line, that I know you care about in this city. The Eglinton West Crosstown: 3 years overdue—a billion dollars over budget.

Can the member talk about the financial mismanagement of transit projects under this government and, from your perspective in Don Valley West, how much would putting more money into transit operating funds all over the province matter to you?

Speaker, Ontario families are struggling, whether it’s to pay their rent, pay their mortgage, to get their kids something extra—they’re using their credit card to access basic medical services for themselves and for their children.

Leadership starts at the top, so I would like the member to tell me her thoughts on the fact that the Premier’s office budget more than doubled to $7 million a year. It went from 20 staff to 48 staff on the sunshine list and each of those 48 staff make more money than the median Ontario family—the median Ontario family—some of them, twice as much, some of them, three times as much and some of them four times as much.

Can the member expound on whether this is really fair or right for Ontario families?

Well, I stand in favour of building things that benefit Ontarians. The highway in the member’s riding I’m not familiar with; it may benefit Ontarians, and certainly I would encourage that. Highway 413, we know from this government’s own ministry, does not benefit Ontarians, Speaker. It saves 30 seconds. It will certainly, though, benefit the rich developers who own land around that area. That is not the kind of thing we should be prioritizing. We need to be prioritizing spending money on investing in things like our post-secondary institutions, who are feeling the pain right now, who have deficits. That will only cause the future of Ontario to grow dimmer, just like our solar eclipse today.

Certainly, public transportation has been proven to be a driver of economic growth, so I’m absolutely in support of public transit. We cannot allow the death spiral that is happening, as the member referenced, in Ottawa happen here in Toronto. When ridership goes down, revenues go down, service goes down—it’s a death spiral.

In Ontario, we have one of the lowest-funded public transportation systems in the world and we need to make sure that we get that back as a priority for not just Toronto—for Ottawa and for other cities that are growing and need to have public transit to make sure that workers across the province can get to work in an energy-efficient way. And that helps our environment too, so absolutely, we need more public transit.

Speaker, again, it really does just show the priorities of this government. They didn’t take out an ad talking about the increases in the Premier’s staff budget. I wonder why. It’s because it’s nothing to be proud of—doubling the budget is not a good use of taxpayer money and it’s not a good use of this government’s resources.

When you think about adding people to the sunshine list when families are suffering, when we’ve got families who are, in record numbers, going to food banks—we’ve got people with full-time jobs going to food banks because they can’t afford the cost of living in this province. We have a Premier who took away rent control so that rent is now an even bigger portion of people’s take-home income.

So, Speaker, I think this government has its priorities all mixed up and this is a perfect example of that.

Speaker, certainly, there are programs that we’re spending on that do benefit workers. But this budget did not brag about the billions of dollars that came out of the public purse to fix a wrong done by this government to workers who really do matter, our health care workers. Bill 124—this government has had to pay $6 billion so far for reparations on that. There’s probably another $7 billion more to come, so while I appreciate the $100 million spent on skilled trades, this government certainly has not prioritized workers across our province.

I want to say thank you to the member from Don Valley West. We were together at the budget consultations and we heard from people across Ontario about investing in skills training through the Skills Development Fund—SDF, as we call it.

Through this budget, we are investing another $100 million for 2024-25 to help workers and job seekers. This is in addition to the $860 million that has been invested since its launch in 2021. To date, the government has delivered close to 600 training projects, supported over 500,000 workers, including those in the skilled trades and health care taking the next step in their career.

My question to the member is very simple: Do you think $100 million is enough investment in SDF, or do you think we should invest more in SDF?

The budget makes mention of a few announcements that are being recycled, so the government is reannouncing the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit. They’ve reannounced the advanced manufacturing and innovation competitiveness stream. They’ve reannounced the target benefit framework, but I couldn’t find anything in the budget that actually targets support for businesses who are still struggling through COVID recovery; nor did I find anything that would actually boost wages to increase and build new jobs so we can transition to a low-carbon economy. Did you find anything in the budget that speaks to those concerns and needs for Ontarians?

Hello, everyone.

Madam Speaker, I feel very honoured to rise today in support of Ontario’s budget known as Building a Better Ontario. I will split my time with the member for Mississauga Centre.

The 2024 budget demonstrates how Premier Ford and our entire government are delivering on the plan to build a better Ontario by investing in infrastructure to get more homes built faster, attracting better jobs with a bigger paycheque, keeping costs down for families and businesses and working on a path to balance.

Another thing this budget is doing is continuing to build a better Ontario for our seniors. Our seniors are the most important people. They are the ones who raised the families. Our seniors are the ones who built the best province in the world, Ontario. Our seniors are the ones who have built the best country in the world, Canada. This budget shows how our government remains committed to stable, predictable funding for programs and services to build a better Ontario for our seniors. As I travel around the province, I see how we are providing great programs and building on our services for our seniors.

I was in Havelock not too long ago celebrating the opening of a new senior active living centre with the MPP for Peterborough–Kawartha. The seniors I met there were so happy that our government was investing in this new centre. They see first-hand the benefits of what our government is doing, as we continue to increase our investments for our seniors.

I was in Amherstburg just last week to open another new senior active living centre. The seniors there were so happy that they will now have a place where they can come and meet old friends and be together with new friends. It’s amazing to see just how active our seniors are when they come together. I was also in Kingsville, in Essex county, with the MPPs for Essex and Windsor–Tecumseh. The energy we received from all of the seniors was amazing.

One of the highlights was meeting up with the senior achievement award winner while I was in Essex County. She travelled to join in the celebration. It was so great to see her again. I was able to meet with her and present the senior achievement award here at Queen’s Park in February.

I was in Innisfil just this past Friday, with the MPP for Innisfil, celebrating another new senior active living centre. This new mobile senior activity centre is travelling around the region, bringing programs and services to seniors in their communities. This is so important because it allows seniors to stay connected.

Staying connected is so important because it fights social isolation. Social isolation is public enemy number one for our seniors, and building a better Ontario for our seniors means we are building a better network, bringing programs and services to our seniors at the local and community level.

When I was in Bryanston, just last month, outside of London, I joined a line dancing class as we celebrated the opening of another new senior active living centre. We had so much fun. It was an honour and pleasure to meet with all the seniors in that part of Ontario.

I could tell that the new senior active living centre meant a great deal. Thanks to the leadership of Premier Ford and the hard work of the Minister of Finance, our entire government is laser-focused on getting the programs and services seniors need at the local level. We now have 316 senior active living centres. We are investing a record amount into those centres and those communities because our seniors deserve our dignity and respect. But that’s not all we are doing for our seniors.

This year, Madam Speaker, we will see a [inaudible] amount invested in bringing a greater, better Ontario for our seniors with our senior community grants. Since 2018, we have invested close to $30 million on 1,500 projects all across Ontario. Everywhere I travel to and meet our seniors who are benefiting from these investments, I see first-hand how our seniors stay fit, active, healthy, socially connected and close to their home in their communities.

We are anticipating that we will announce over 250 seniors community grants during Seniors’ Month in June. All across Ontario, we’ll show with this investment that we are building a better Ontario for our seniors.

One area where we are also supporting our seniors is the Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit. This is something I know that the Minister of Finance is passionate about. The Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit is designed to help seniors live in their homes for as long as they want. And when we talk about building a better Ontario, we also look to strengthen our villages, towns, neighbourhoods and cities by having people who chose to live in those communities all across Ontario have the ability stay and continue to build a better town, village or city they live in. The Ontario Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit is doing just that. It is helping seniors access the right care they need. It is helping seniors bring the right care to them in their own homes.

You see, Madam Speaker, building a better Ontario includes building a better Ontario for our seniors, those who are young and young at heart, because one day all of us will become seniors. That is why, thanks to the leadership of Premier Ford and the hard work of the Minister of Finance, we are building a better Ontario for our seniors for today, tomorrow and well into the future.

Next question?

The Minister for Seniors and Accessibility.

Thank you to the member for the very good question. The answer is no, Speaker. In fact, I provided some suggestions to this government about things that would do exactly that—for example, Digital Main Street, and extending that program beyond the current fiscal year. That would help Ontario small businesses grow and expand. Instead of spending money on highways and long-term-care homes through their $3-billion bank that they’re now calling a fund, they could have taken that money, as I suggested, as my caucus suggested, to spend it on things that do help us transition to the green economy; things that will advance our work in innovation in health care, in genomes and in lots of areas where we have the opportunity to create new jobs in the new industries of the future and drive productivity growth for our province.

When I talk to people in the business world, they talk about the concerns that people have in our province, the concerns that capital owners have for our province, when they say people don’t have a place to live, and how can we hire skilled workers here and retain our workers when they don’t have an affordable place to live?

Those are the kinds of things that do not drive economic growth. We need to make sure our institutions are well-funded, that our post-secondary institutions get the money they need to provide the education they need to advance our productivity growth into the future.

I’m very proud to rise in this chamber to speak to how our government’s budget, Building a Better Ontario, continues to help seniors, families, caregivers and our communities.

This past month, I was truly humbled and honoured to be appointed to two portfolios very near and dear to my heart. I now serve as parliamentary assistant to both the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility and the Minister of Long-Term Care a privilege I couldn’t be more thankful for.

I can’t emphasize enough how happy I am to join the Minister for Seniors—a super senior himself—to be an advocate for our incredible seniors in Ontario. The minister himself is an incredibly accomplished man who not only has many years of experience as a public servant, but also three decades of political experience, and on top of that has four university degrees. I think me and the minister have something in common: a love for lifelong learning.

His six years in charge of the seniors file have been remarkable, to say the least. When I visit seniors in my riding, I hear how thankful they are for his initiative, devotion, humour and energy that he brings to this file, one of them being our incredible seniors dental program bringing care to seniors who need it the most.

Madam Speaker, seniors didn’t just raise us; they built Ontario. They built our roads, our homes and started businesses that flourish to this day. It is up to us to return the favour and take care of them. It is our duty, and it is one that we take very seriously.

Another super senior I want to highlight is Hazel McCallion, our former mayor of Mississauga, who worked well into her senior years building our great city. Her hard work and dedication resulted in many investments and local landmarks we appreciate to this day: not only our famous Celebration Square, but also Sheridan College, one of the most esteemed schools in Canada. She was also a champion for women’s hockey and saw the transformation of our city from farmland into a thriving and vibrant urban centre.

Another senior I cannot forget to mention is Father Angelos from the Virgin Mary Coptic church in Mississauga, who I had the honour of joining this past weekend with the Premier and my colleagues. Father—or Abuna, as we like to call him—Angelos’s work in the community is a testament of the man of God he is, living out his faith and taking care of our community. Because of his great work, he is not only providing spiritual care to parishioners, but he’s also helping to build long-term-care homes, schools, career colleges and day cares in Mississauga. He also helped to build Aghabi Place, an affordable-rate apartment building that is home to many accessible units for residents with disabilities.

It is on the shoulders of these senior giants that I am so fortunate to stand as I embark on this new journey in my political career. Since being elected, I travelled not just in my riding, but across the province, meeting seniors and learning about each person’s unique culture and experiences. Many times a year, I visited two local co-op buildings in my riding, Camille’s Place and Aghabi Place, home to a vibrant population of seniors, where I enjoyed holding round tables and consultations, celebrating Christmas, Easter and the many different diverse holidays that we are fortunate to have in Mississauga.

Camille’s Place is also home to my adoptive grandmother, Shirley—and she might be watching today; hi, Shirley—whom I’ve shared many memorable moments with, attending picnics and celebrations, as well as our famous Lobsterfest. Madam Speaker, she is the number one seller for I don’t know how many years in a row. She sells out the house, so if anyone wants to come to the Mississauga Lobsterfest, call Grandma Shirley. She’ll hook you up.

Madam Speaker, my past portfolio with the Ministry of Francophone Affairs also had me travelling across Ontario, meeting Franco-Ontarian seniors who are living in long-term-care homes that cater to their linguistic needs, respecting our country’s two official languages. It further cemented that no two seniors in Ontario are the same. They are a diverse community, each with their own unique needs, and it is up to us to do our part in serving them to the best of our ability.

As the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility just explained, when it comes to fighting social isolation, our government is investing in the kinds of programs and services that help keep seniors fit, active, healthy, socially connected and close to their homes and communities. We have living proof: the more than 300 active living centres across Ontario that recently benefited from our government’s efforts to expand programs and services. There are now 17 new seniors’ active living centres across the province, but our government is also increasing the funding for all 316 SALCs, so they can provide more programs and services to the hundreds of thousands of seniors who participate in everything from tai chi to Zumba classes to cooking classes to health and well-being seminars, to a better understanding of money matters and tax tips, to being with old friends and meeting new ones. This is permanent, stable and predictable funding that seniors across Ontario can rely on.

This is also why we are also stepping up supports for some of our most vulnerable by expanding the annual income eligibility threshold for the Ontario Guaranteed Annual Income System program for low-income seniors, and ensuring that the benefit is indexed to the rate of inflation. This one move will result in about 100,000 more Ontario seniors receiving support, while increasing the support that eligible seniors receive.

Madam Speaker, one thing is clear: Our government will always be in the corner with our seniors. They are the backbone of our province, and I draw inspiration from their experiences each and every day. The seniors in Mississauga Centre and in every riding across this province deserve everything and more.

That is why our government continues to invest in Seniors Community Grants. I was excited to share with Mississauga seniors when I let them know that applications have been opened just last month. We want to ensure that seniors have the means to live healthy and active lives, while staying socially connected to their communities, and the Seniors Community Grant Program provides senior groups funding to deliver a wide variety of activities to promote engagement, reduce social isolation and promote healthy living. This can include something like a seniors’ bingo night, a computer skills workshop, arts and crafts activities, trips and more.

Last year, we invested $6 million into over 280 groups and organizations for activities for seniors, and we will continue to do so this year. This is what we accomplished since 2018, and it is what we will continue to do as we build a better Ontario for our seniors. I’m also excited to share that this year we will see over 120 seniors’ fairs, bringing our seniors together at the local and community levels. These fairs showcase and promote local services, programs and activities, and bring our seniors together so they can plan for the year ahead with local and community-based programming and services, or simply meet up with each other and have some fun.

Another great line item in our budget is our further investment into home care. And, Madam Speaker, this one is a very important one. We’re increasing the funding from $1 billion; we’re adding an additional $2 billion. And what this will mean for seniors in my riding of Mississauga Centre and across the province is that they will be able to age at home. They will be able to have that PSW or that nurse come to their home, do the wound dressing change or help them in the activities of daily living. This is an incredible investment because we realize we need to stabilize the workforce when it comes to our home care. This $2 billion is to boost this acceleration and increase compensation for PSWs, nurses and other care providers; and this funding is not just for home care, but for community care, as well, going towards senior day programs, meal services and transportation.

Madam Speaker, there are many more exciting investments in this budget. One that I would mention quickly is that we are investing a significant amount of money to train about 3,000 more nurses. That includes registered nurses and registered practical nurses. So, we are doing everything we can—we’re leaving no stone unturned—to ensure that we are providing for our seniors. They deserve the care; they deserve our compassion. They deserve to know that they have a government that has their backs and will continue to do so.

I now recognize the member for Mississauga Centre.

You know what? I’m so proud to stand here on this side of the House to speak about our record in building long-term care. Let’s be very clear: While the previous Liberal government only built some 600-odd long-term-care beds in 15 years, our government has built more than does the city of Mississauga. That’s a very clear record. We’re also investing significant amounts of dollars to increase staffing ratios in our long-term-care facilities. Even in this particular budget, we’re investing $155.5 million to extend the construction funding subsidy top-up. This means that those 58,000 beds that are in the pipeline will get additional funding to make sure those projects come to completion.

So you know what, Madam Speaker? We have 70,000 seniors living in long-term care across the province and we need every single one of those providers to continue providing care for our seniors so they can receive compassionate care, especially at the end of their life.

Do you know what else I’m proud of? Our Ontario Learn and Stay program, which was another thing that member could have delivered but hasn’t. Currently, we have 3,800 students benefiting from the Ontario Learn and Stay program, and they will stay in those far and remote communities to provide the care that those seniors and patients need.

Dementia may not be a sexy topic to talk about in politics, but I think that when we all door-knock, it doesn’t matter which side of the House you were on in the last election, I think every single member in this House heard a story about a dementia patient, a loved one, a spouse, a mother, a brother or a sister, suffering from this debilitating cognitive disease.

So while dementia is not a natural part of aging, age is a risk factor for dementia. So what we do know, Madam Speaker, is that we have close to a 70%, or even more, dementia diagnosis within our long-term-care sector. This is a significant challenge that health care providers need to deal with.

That is why I was really proud to introduce my bill, Bill 121, Improving Dementia Care in Ontario Act, to ensure that our PSWs are trained on how to provide person-centred dementia care in Ontario.

Madam Speaker, what I will say is that the NDP wants to have it both ways. We do have a $9-billion deficit—but that’s not a deficit; it’s an investment. If we didn’t have it, you would say, “How come we’re cutting and we’re not investing?” So the NDP keeps on spinning things and speaking from both sides of their mouth.

This is a great investment, this budget of $215 billion that we’re investing into health care, into long-term care—

Just to clarify the member’s comments: 30,000 beds were built or rebuilt from 2003 to 2018.

Interjection: No way.

But here’s my question—and I didn’t get an answer this morning and I didn’t get an answer—

Interjections.

On what planet is it a good idea for the Premier to enrich his office in this way? I hope somebody on the other side can answer that question, because I haven’t heard an answer for that yet.

The member for Mississauga Centre, as a practising nurse and someone completing her masters in nursing and who I know has particular expertise in dementia and has in fact originated many of the motions in this House in relation to dementia—we’ve had a number of conversations about this issue, and I really want to congratulate you on your new placement as a PA. It couldn’t be more well-deserved.

So as somebody that I think probably has far more expertise than anybody else in this House in this area, both academically and professionally, I wonder if you can explain a little bit more from your experience not just as a politician but also as a nurse what you think is in this budget and the province’s record in this area.

It’s nice to hear the government say that they care about seniors, but the reality is, 6,000 people died in long-term-care facilities in the province of Ontario under your watch—6,000. And 78% died in for-profit homes—78%.

There is not one mention in this budget to talk about not-for-profit care. We all know they receive better care when it’s not-for-profit because it’s about care, not profit. We know that. They brought in Bill 7 because they cared so much about seniors and forced them out of the hospitals with alternate level of care without their consent, Madam Speaker. And I know that you don’t even like it. You can’t say that today, but I know you don’t like it.

My question is very clear, and I wish the minister was here: When will they take the profit out of long-term care and start saving seniors’ lives that are dying every day in our long-term-care facilities?

It’s always interesting to be in the House, watching the moon eclipse the sun and leaving the people of Ontario in the dark because the Conservatives are constantly benchmarking the Liberals for what’s appropriate. We watched the Liberals let people of Ontario down and now the Conservatives have continued on that same trend, because we still have legislated poverty. We have a housing crisis that we’ve never seen. Our health care system is in shambles and being privatized.

This is the state of what we see in Ontario, and it is so unfortunate for democracy because what it does is, it continues to show people that they don’t want to be involved, and that’s how we get a super majority government with 18% of the eligible electorate.

Does the member think that they could actually do better than just thinking they do better than the Liberals—because it’s not really a great benchmark.

We’re going to go to questions.

Before I ask my question, I want to acknowledge my colleague the MPP from Mississauga Centre, who is the parliamentary assistant to the Minister for Seniors and Accessibility. She’s also the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Long-Term Care. She’s a member of the Standing Committee on Justice Policy, and she is also a member of the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

You carry a lot of weight, so congratulations. My daughter is going to become a nurse, and I know she looks up to you. She talks to you about that, as well.

Talking about health care support—all Ontarians expect and deserve access to health care in our province. We have heard it from the great Minister of Health. Having the shortfall emergency department wait times in Canada is not good enough for our government. We know that Ontarians want us to continue the work we’ve been doing to support our health care system and lower wait times.

So from your experience and through this budget 2024, can you advise us and tell us, what is the government doing?

Sorry; I need to ask the member to withdraw please.

I’ll give the floor back to the member for Hamilton Mountain.

Withdraw.

I’m very, very proud of this budget because we are investing $965 million, on average, which is a 4% increase, to hospital base funding for a second year in a row. This is a great contrast to the previous Liberal government that did what? Froze hospital budgets for four years before they got booted out of power.

We are investing almost $1 billion to decrease wait times, and we’ll continue to do that.