Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

In Sault Ste. Marie, 10,000 people will lose access to primary care at the end of next month. Some 280 emergency room closures; 1,200 hospital services closures: This is the reality of rural and northern Ontario.

We deserve access to care, Speaker. Why is this government ignoring the crisis in rural and northern Ontario?

It doesn’t have to be that way, Speaker. We have solutions sitting on the minister’s desk right now, collecting dust. Will the minister start listening to rural Ontario and fund these proposals right now?

I have a question for the Minister of Energy today. On April 1, we saw the federal Liberal carbon tax go up not 10%, not 15%, not 20%, but 23% for the people of Ontario, and we saw opposition to this increase from Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

Here in Ontario, we’ve taken a leadership position and say that we don’t need more carbon tax increases on the people of Ontario. Yet we see that Bonnie Crombie, the leader of the Liberals here in Ontario, insists on fighting to raise the carbon tax. We see that families in Ontario in my riding of Niagara West can’t afford to spend more on groceries, more on gas, more on every aspect of life, and I know that this is a government that isn’t going to give up on fighting for those hard-working families here in Ontario.

I know that we’re continuing to fight this tax every step of the way, and I’m wondering if the minister could share more with the chamber about why it’s important that the government of Ontario and all members in this House step up to show leadership in fighting the carbon tax and defending hard-working families.

Speaker, the previous Liberal government drove away investments. We saw them double the provincial tax burden. We saw them increase the debt for this province and also punish Ontario families with more tolls and taxes in every corner of their life. And under Bonnie Crombie, we see that the Liberal members of this House also refuse to stand up against the federal carbon tax. We know that Ontario families can’t afford more Liberal taxes. It’s what they’ve come to expect from the federal government; it’s what they saw from the provincial Liberals. But, Speaker, this is a government that is standing in contrast with that tax-and-spend burden.

Could the parliamentary assistant please explain to this House and to my constituents who are watching what we are doing to support the people of Ontario, what we are doing to reduce the cost of living for them and their families in contrast with the federal carbon tax increases?

Again, thank you to the member of the opposition for allowing me to speak about Ontario’s world-class health care.

Our government is investing over $85 billion this year alone into our health care system, which is a 30% increase from when we took power in 2018. Ontario is leading the country, with almost 90% of Ontarians having a family doctor or a primary health care provider.

But we understand more can be done. That is why, in Sault Ste. Marie, we have two new primary care units that are going to be going on with $1.1 million. Since 2018, we’ve registered 12,500 new physicians in Ontario, including the 10% increase in family doctors.

As I said, we know more needs to be done. In this year’s budget, we went even further. The primary care expansion has expanded to a total investment of $546 million over three years to connect 600,000 more Ontarians to care.

Our government is also expanding the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. NOSM will soon offer 108 seats, nearly doubling the capacity of their MD program. They’ll increase from 60 postgraduate positions to 123 by 2028.

Speaker, we will continue to work with our health care partners across the province to ensure that Ontario has the best publicly funded health care when and where people need it.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Niagara West for continuing to stand up against this punitive, regressive carbon tax. And he’s absolutely right: It has raised the cost not just at the pumps; it’s on the grocery shelves—it’s everywhere. Everything is going up as a result of the carbon tax. And we’ve been standing here and fighting for the people of Ontario and trying to reduce their costs, reducing the gas tax $320 to the average family in the course of a year—that’s going to save them money. We’re removing the cost of licence plate stickers on the cars—that’s going to save them money as well. All of these things, while the Liberal government continues to raise the carbon tax 23% on April 1.

Justin Trudeau had a choice. He could have sided with the people or sided with the ideologues. He chose the latter. It’s time to side with the people and scrap the tax.

We’ve reduced the cost of doing business in this province by $8 billion. That gets passed on to the consumers because businesses have had more freedom to operate here in the province of Ontario, creating more jobs. All this while Bonnie Crombie stands with her leader from Ottawa in supporting the carbon tax.

Speaker, we are doing everything we can to put money back into the pockets of people in Ontario. We know they’re suffering under the carbon tax. It’s time for the Liberals and the NDP to support what we’re doing: Help us scrap the carbon tax.

My question is to the Premier. There are many landlords across Ontario who owe tenants a lot of money—money in the thousands of dollars. Big landlords regularly ignore the requirements to reduce rents when above-guideline rent increases expire, so tenants everywhere are paying illegal rents.

Will the Premier take steps to ensure landlords follow the law and reduce rents for tenants so they can pay their bills?

The Attorney General.

We have a fix for that, Mr. Speaker. It’s an independent tribunal: the Landlord and Tenant Board, Mr. Speaker.

And I can tell you that we are making tremendous progress with what we call the AGIs, the above-guideline increases. Independent hearings by independent members are hearing concerns. They’re making decisions. They’re getting the decisions out the door, 90% of the time within 30 days.

So I’ll address it more in the supplement, Mr. Speaker, but we have a process. And it’s a proper process to address any kind of concern like that.

We’re investing in the back office. We’ve invested in upgraded systems that the Liberals left in shambles before we took over, Mr. Speaker. But we’re beyond that. That’s now history. We have a good system. We have good people. We have a system that’s coming down, and we’re going to make sure that people have their matters heard independently, fairly and quickly.

Speaker, the carbon tax is holding us back from unleashing the full potential of Ontario. But we’ve shown the Liberals the way: less red tape and lower taxes equals more jobs.

We have removed 500 pieces of red tape that the Liberals put in. Our fall red tape reduction package alone is saving people and businesses over 100,000 hours each year. As a result, 700,000 more men and women are working today than when we took office. Last year alone, we added 180,000 new jobs in Ontario and $11 billion in new investments. Imagine— just imagine—what we could have achieved without the carbon tax.

We refuse to let the Liberals jeopardize the progress that we have made. Scrap the carbon tax today. Work with us to create the conditions for growth in Ontario.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. The federal Liberals are turning their back on the hard-working people of Ontario, whether it’s the auto worker in Windsor, the miner in Timmins or the tech engineer in Waterloo—they’re all concerned about the rising cost of living.

The absolute last thing that a government should be doing is making things more expensive by hiking taxes, but that’s exactly what the federal Liberal government did last Monday when they increased the carbon tax. As we all know, the carbon tax is driving the cost of everything up across the board, penalizing Ontario’s workers and squeezing businesses in every sector of our province.

Speaker, can the minister explain how, by cutting costs, our government is able to create the conditions for job growth and new investment?

With the stroke of a pen, Speaker, the federal Liberals could scrap the carbon tax and bring down the cost of gas by nearly 18 cents a litre while simultaneously alleviating inflationary pressures, not just in Ontario but across our country. But instead, they’ve chosen to proceed with their 23% carbon tax hike.

While elected officials of all political stripes are standing up against the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie and the provincial Liberals have not said one word.

Speaker, can the minister highlight the progress of Ontario’s economy since we took office and since we’ve lowered costs?

Mr. Speaker, Metrolinx and their team are undertaking the largest public transit infrastructure investment in the history of not only Canada but all of North America.

And do you know what? Those members, including the Liberals, who for 15 years did absolutely nothing to build transit in this province, voted against every single one of those transit projects: the Ontario Line—388,000 daily boardings projected; 28,000 fewer cars on the road once that line is built. And do you know what, Mr. Speaker? That member has voted against those public transit investments every single time. Let’s look at the Yonge North subway extension, another project this government is delivering on: 4,800 tonnes of GHG emission reduction when that project is built. And guess what? That member has voted against it every single time.

We’ll continue to build public transit across this province, and we’ll be ambitious and continue to do what the previous Liberal government refused to do, which is build for future generations.

We want to get shovels in the ground, and guess what, Mr. Speaker? We do have shovels in the ground, on the Ontario Line, on the Eglinton West extension, on the Yonge North subway extension. We’ve put the RFQ to market. The Scarborough subway extension: Shovels are in the ground. This is historic. And if the NDP and if the Liberals did what we experienced for the last 15 years, we’d have no shovels in the ground, and we’d have no public transit for this province.

So I ask the members of the Liberals and the NDP to support public transit in this province, to support investments that we are making so we can move the people—

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. It begins with some unfortunate news for this House, however: There is something growing faster in Ontario than the number of six-figure staffers in the Premier’s office. It’s the army of vice-presidents that work for CEO of Metrolinx, Phil Verster.

My question to the Premier is very simple: Can he say to this House if he has confidence in Metrolinx right now and its executive leadership?

So, my question again to the honourable gentleman: Please, for the transit users who work in this province, why are you rewarding failure? When will you rein in the gravy train at Metrolinx? It’s time for action.

In 2018, the Premier ran a tough-talking campaign aimed at convincing Ontarians the previous government was wasting taxpayer money. He spoke about the growing sunshine list of public sector employees earning over $100,000. One would think he was some kind of Robin Hood figure who was going to take from the rich and give to the poor. His record in office proves otherwise.

Speaker, this government has made many mistakes: Bill 124, axing workers’ rights, the greenbelt scandal, to name just a few. But now, the government has a mistake right in the Premier’s office. The Premier has added so many new sunshine-list employees to his staff that it’s costing taxpayers more than double what it did under any previous government.

My question to the Premier: Is he ready to admit that he is running a government that is full of friends, insiders and fat cats, to use his own words, and to clean up the bloated mess in his office?

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The supplementary question.

The next question.

Certainly this government does have the biggest Premier’s office in history. Once again, the standards this government holds itself to just don’t apply to them.

This Premier has a long history of railing against governments wasting money, the so-called “gravy train.” Torontonians remember him railing against it as a city councillor, and Ontarians heard him do it during provincial campaigns. Yet during his six years in office, the Premier has not hesitated to create new executive positions for his friends, giving every member of the Conservative caucus except one a pay raise and doubling the number of staff in the Premier’s office making $100,000 or more a year. I guess it’s hard for the Premier to rail against the gravy train when he’s up to his own waist in gravy.

Speaker, back to the Premier: How exactly is his gravy train deluxe different from everything he has railed against in the past, and how will he stop the gravy train deluxe this time around, when he has only himself to blame?

Speaker, what we’re doing is running a government that is delivering on behalf of the people of the province of Ontario.

The Liberals increased taxes and delivered nothing. They increased red tape and delivered nothing. Are there more people working in the province of Ontario? Yes, there are: about 700,000 more people working in the province of Ontario than there were under the Liberals. Do you know why? Because we’re doing what they wouldn’t do. We’re actually investing in people. We have the largest transit and transportation investment in the province’s history. We have the largest investment in hospitals in the province’s history, the largest investment in new schools in the province’s history. We have the largest investment in economic development ever. Do you know why? Because people want to come to Ontario and make those investments. Do you know why they want to do that? Because they have a confident Progressive Conservative stable majority government, and we’re delivering for them: cutting taxes, making investments, more jobs. It’s a good time to be a Progressive Conservative—

The new leader of the Liberal Party’s first ask wasn’t for the people of the province of Ontario; the first ask was what? A million dollars to pay her salary. That is what this member is supporting.

Do you know what we’re doing? We’re cutting taxes for the people—

Interjections.

The leader of the Liberal Party knows what we’re doing. What we’re doing is making sure that we have an economy that works for all of the people. We’re fixing the mess that they left behind, and we’ll continue to do that job for the people—

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. The federal carbon tax went up again, and Bonnie Crombie and her Liberals refuse to oppose it.

Speaker, we know that Ontario families cannot afford the carbon tax. When I was door-knocking last week in my riding of Newmarket–Aurora, people expressed concern over the high cost of living. It seems like Justin Trudeau and his ally Bonnie Crombie don’t understand how much harder life has become for Ontarians due to this carbon tax.

While the Liberals are pushing for higher taxes, our government is lowering costs for the people of Ontario. Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is keeping costs down for Ontarians fighting this terrible Liberal carbon tax?

Now more than ever, Ontarians need a government that will deliver true affordability, not increased taxes. Our government must continue to demonstrate leadership and support Ontario families during these challenging times.

Speaker, can the parliamentary assistant please elaborate on the steps that our government is taking to support the great people of Ontario?

I’d like to thank the member for Newmarket–Aurora, not only for her question, but her continued advocacy on this issue.

So 17 cents a litre is what we’re paying more for a litre of gasoline because of Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax. In a pickup truck like mine, which is a common way of transportation in rural Ontario, that’s over 20 bucks a tank. That’s what I’m hearing—she’s hearing it from her constituents; that’s what I’m hearing from mine.

When the cost of fuel goes up, the cost of everything goes up, because we need fuel to move everything in this province. We need it. So, the reality is that either Bonnie Crombie and Justin Trudeau don’t understand—which she asked, do they understand—or maybe they just don’t care.

On this side of the House, in this government, we care. We’re lowering the cost of living by reducing that tax. That’s $320 a year for the average person. And we’re also removing the cost of licence plate fees. We will continue to fight this punitive carbon tax until it’s gone.

But they’re hearing it in boxcar letters all across the province. Everybody is saying the same thing. They are being hurt and harmed. Their families are being hurt by the carbon tax. But the Liberals just sit there like deer in the headlights, like it doesn’t matter to them. But it matters to the people of Ontario. I hear it all across my riding. This tax is regressive, it is punitive and it is not accomplishing anything of what it was intended to do.

It is time for the Liberals in this House to talk to their chieftain out in Ottawa and tell the queen of the carbon tax to have a discussion with Justin. It is time to scrap this tax once and for all. The people can’t take much more.

My question is to the Premier. Seniors in hospital are being fined $400 a day if they refuse to be sent to a long-term-care home they didn’t choose, even if it’s up to 150 kilometres away from their families.

This government repeatedly denied the use of this cruel practice under Bill 7. The Conservatives claim that Bill 7 gives hospitals the authority to charge seniors $400 a day in order to force them out to clear out beds and create hospital capacity. But we know wait times in hospitals remain historically high, and one senior recently was slapped with—listen to this—a $5,200 bill.

Was the Premier actually unaware of the charges being billed to seniors, or did he purposely withhold that information from the media?

Our government believes that a hospital is not a home. We repeat: A hospital is not a home. Under the same legislation that the member is referring to, 99.96% of those people he is referencing have gone from being patients in a hospital to residents in long-term care—17,339 people now have the dignity of calling a home a home.

But I guess we shouldn’t be surprised by the attitude from the member opposite, right? Because this morning, the Leader of the Opposition mocked long-term-care homes as counting as homes, mocked student housing as counting as homes and, one step further, equated them to being jail cells.

We see things very differently. Our seniors took care of us. That’s why we’re building a record capacity, fixing the mistakes that the Liberals made when they failed to build: 611 net new beds when they exited government in 2018. We will continue to not only build capacity, we’re ending hallway health care in Ontario.