I would like to welcome my friends from Brampton: Abhishek Jain, Napinderpal Masaun, Puneet Sahi, Manu Mahajan, and a special guest from India, Updeep Singh. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’m just adding to the list of our friends who are here for a very important debate this afternoon: Yamikani Msosa from the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women—very happy you’re with us today, Yami.

I wish a warm welcome to two of my constituents, Norm Mero and Dillon Mero, who are here in the members’ gallery today.

On behalf of both Hamilton members here, we want to welcome to our House members from the Woman Abuse Working Group, Erin Griver, and from the YWCA, Daniela Giulietti. I want to thank all of the agencies in Hamilton working around intimate partner violence. It’s an important issue, and we really appreciate you coming here today to stand up—thank you.

Good morning. This question is for the Premier. Nearly 10 years ago, three women were tragically murdered in Renfrew county on the same day by the same man. Since then, hundreds of women have lost their lives to acts of intimate partner violence. The first recommendation from the coroner’s inquest into the murders in Renfrew county was to formally declare intimate partner violence an epidemic. It’s a simple yet very important and impactful step that this government has so far resisted.

My question is, will the Premier right this wrong and support the NDP’s bill to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario?

I think all of us here often feel like we have a great privilege in being able to speak for so many who have been more directly impacted, often, by things like intimate partner violence. I always say it’s a privilege that we are able to be the ones to be here to advocate, and I do want to thank the government.

I am going to move on: I appreciate the government’s commitment to creating a committee. I’d like the government to consider taking everything a little bit of a step further today. We are joined, as I mentioned earlier, by dozens of survivors, their supporters, their loved ones, and they are here because, frankly, this government has ignored survivors for too long. This is the same government that cut millions in funding for the victims’ compensation fund and they changed the eligibility rules so that it’s even harder for survivors to get justice.

So I’d ask the minister and the Premier if they might consider explaining to the folks here today why they have taken that lifeline away and to, perhaps, restore it.

This is urgent. We need to increase that base funding right now. I would ask the government: Let’s not push this over to another committee for another 10 years or 12 years; let’s get this done today together.

I also want to mention courts again. We were joined this morning by a survivor who had the case against the accused stayed because too much time had passed. We hear this over and over again. We would ask the government to please consider properly funding the courts so that victims, survivors can truly see justice.

Will the government—and I know the government doesn’t want us to be talking about all these issues today, but this is what it means to declare this an epidemic. It means that you have to now treat it like the epidemic that it is. So I would ask the government again to restore the funding to the victims’ compensation fund and ensure that our courts are properly funded.

Interjections.

It’s always a pleasure when the people from our community from Peel region are here, including Abhishek Jain, Napinderpal, Puneet Sahi, Manu Mahajan and his guest from India, Updeep Singh. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

That concludes our introduction of visitors for this morning.

I’d like to welcome Jenna Mayne and Lillie Proksch from the Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region. They’re here today for the intimate partner violence debate. And then Janice Jim, who is also a Waterloo constituent. Welcome to your House.

My question is to the Premier. I am incredibly disappointed to hear the government House leader talk about sending this to a committee. Nearly two years ago—

Interjections.

Interjections.

Members will please take their seats.

To respond, the government House leader.

Interjections.

To reply for the government, the government House leader.

Again, I know that the Attorney General has been seized with ensuring that we have the proper resources in our court system to address this and the other issues that we’re facing in the criminal justice system.

But as I said, and I want to be very clear about this to the Leader of the Opposition and to colleagues on all sides of the House: Everything is on the table. We want to look at every aspect of this so that we can come with a Team Ontario approach to how we deal with the challenges that are being faced. It could include issues with respect to the criminal justice legislation from the federal government. It could definitely include the supports that we already have in place. How do the courts deal with this? What are victims? What are the challenges that victims have faced in addressing some of the concerns? Are there obstacles? Are there roadblocks?

I would suggest that everything should be on the table. Should the committee accept this challenge, we will authorize them and provide them all the necessary resources that they need to travel the entire province, to go to other jurisdictions, if need be. We will do better, and we can accomplish that together, Mr. Speaker.

But it is clear to us, Mr. Speaker, that more needs to be done and that we need greater advice, not only from parliamentarians on both sides of the chamber, but we need to hear from victims of this. We need to hear from subject matter experts. We need to hear from those who respond: What are the challenges that they are facing in helping to deal with this?

Everything is on the table. I don’t know how much more clear I can be to the Leader of the Opposition. Everything is on the table. We want to build on the programs and services that we already have, but we also want to look at other jurisdictions to see what they’re doing and how Ontario can not only copy good programs but be a leader, the way we have been in so many other ways. So we will get that job done.

Let me be very, very clear: I have every faith that a parliamentary committee, given the resources that are required, will come forward with very valuable recommendations. We have seen this time and time again. We need not look any further than the extraordinary work that was done on human trafficking, led by the member for Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock but supported by all members. We have done such an amazing job on that, Mr. Speaker, that what Ontario has done has become a beacon of hope for jurisdictions around the world, and now we are going to do the same.

I trust parliamentarians to give this vigorous, vigorous study. If the committee agrees, we want to go into every part of this province. We want to go to other jurisdictions. We want to go across Canada. We want to ask our federal partners to participate in this. We will come back with a plan that works better, that improves on what we’ve already put in place and responds to the needs of victims and those who are helping victims.

Now, we’ve heard this consistently. We’ve heard this from victims. We’ve heard it from members of the opposition that they have suggestions and that we can learn. That is what this parliamentary committee will do. I’m disappointed that the opposition is frustrated by that, but I am actually very encouraged by what a parliamentary committee, working together, can accomplish.

We will leave no stone unturned to improve on what we have already built in the province of Ontario. We will look at the justice system. We will look at the services that we provide victims. We will look at ways of making it easier for victims to get those services. We will look at laws or legislation that might be on the table with the federal government that might need to be changed. We’ll look at other jurisdictions. We’ll work quickly and effectively. And we will criss-cross not only the entire province, but we will go anywhere that we need to to ensure that the people who have been victims of this and the people who provide those services get the care and the resources they need to address the—

Interjections.

The Renfrew report gave us 86 recommendations; 68 of those are provincial jurisdiction. We don’t need another study. We don’t need another study. What we need is action from this government. Sixty-eight recommendations—30 women last year were killed in 30 weeks in this province; 58 women were killed in incidents of intimate partner violence.

There is no waiting around. There is no need for more studies. They have written you the recipe for getting close to fixing this. Will the government implement the 68 recommendations of the Renfrew report?

I want to tell you that one of the issues I wanted to raise today as well is the major hurdle that so many who are escaping intimate partner violence experience. Without access to funds, survivors are facing an often impossible choice of whether or not they flee violence with their children and risk that and take the risk of ending up homeless or living in poverty or living with endless uncertainty.

The government is, I think, going to maybe call another committee together. I would again urge the government to consider simply looking at the recommendations of the Renfrew inquest. We have had so many reports over so many years. The trauma that people experience is generational. I would ask the government again, consider what you are being told by the experts, the people living on the front line, the people working on the front line, and please don’t spread this out anymore. Let’s just get this done. Accept the Renfrew recommendations.

Thank you to the very robust member from Perth–Wellington, who comes from one of the largest agricultural communities in the entire province.

The carbon tax isn’t just affecting energy bills; the cost is affecting everything that we purchase in the province and making life more unaffordable for the people of Ontario. That’s why, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we’ve fought the federal carbon tax since 2018. It is causing, obviously, a tax on greenhouses where tomatoes are grown. It’s putting a tax on the transportation to get those tomatoes to the grocery store. It’s creating a tax at the grocery store, where they’re paying the carbon tax. So, clearly, it is having a multiplying effect and driving up the cost of everything, and everybody seems to understand that across Canada except for federal Liberals and Ontario Liberals in this House.

We know the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, supports her federal cousins Justin Trudeau and Steven Guilbeault. We don’t, Mr. Speaker.

Now, the federal Liberal government wants to slap the carbon tax on everybody, and they don’t just want to slap it on now, which they did last week; they want to increase it by triple by the end of the decade, which is unheard of. It’s going to make everything in our province unattainable and more expensive.

At the same time, the NDP in this House are opposed to Bill 165—which is going to make it impossible for natural gas to be extended to these same grain farmers who want to use it to drive down their emissions from higher-emitting fuels.

So there’s only one party you can really trust when it comes to the energy system in Ontario, and that is Premier Doug Ford and our Ministry of Energy that’s making life more affordable for the people of Ontario, in spite—

Again I will remind the government House leader: You’ve had almost two years to act on that one recommendation, among others, and you soundly rejected it. So there is no trust on this side of the House, or for survivors or for victims’ families or for the advocates, that you are going to move this bill through committee in a timely fashion. So again I ask that you immediately pass it today, pass it through third reading and give it royal assent, regardless of whether the Minister of Energy wants to heckle me, previously saying that it’s not going to go do anything if it receives royal assent.

Speaker, the government rejected recommendation 4, which called on the creation of the role of a survivor advocate, and they rejected recommendation 5, to institute a provincial implementation committee dedicated to ensuring that the recommendations from the inquest are implemented and reported on. So I’m going to ask the government side: Why should survivors and their families and the service providers believe that you are not just going to send this bill to committee in the hopes that nothing actually comes out of it?

I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

Government House leader.

Interjection.

Minister of Energy.

The next question.

To be clear, we are passing the bill through the committee, but simultaneously, we will be reaching out to committee and asking them to conclude or to begin the process of the very extensive study on all aspects of intimate partner violence, concurrent with the bill being in front of committee. We will have the ability to call the ministers in this government. We will have the ability to call victims in front of the committee. We’ll have the ability to call providers of services, and we will criss-cross the entire province to find out what we can do better and how quickly we can enact some of those changes.

Look, I can sit here and highlight all of the great work that the ministers have done to address this, but I don’t think today is the day for that. What we’re going to do is we are going to engage all parliamentarians in an effort to replicate the great work that we did on human trafficking. I think members on both sides of the House will agree that what we accomplished on human trafficking is an example of Parliament working at its best. I believe that we can do the exact same thing here, and we will provide the resources necessary to do just that.

As I said, there is no point in us highlighting all of the extraordinary work that has been done already—I think there are a lot of things that we can be very proud of, but we have to do more, right? We’ve heard that loud and clear, that more has to be done. There needs to be more work done with respect to how it is impacting northern communities. We’ve heard from various other communities too that it is impacting them in different ways. We’ve heard, frankly, across the country, from our partners in other provinces, that more work needs to be done in co-operation with each other and, of course, the people who provide services to the victims have asked for better coordination.

So yes, absolutely, we will work quickly. We will do an extensive study. The committee can work as quickly as it possibly can, and we will provide it with the resources that it needs to get the job done properly and provide Parliament with recommendations that we can act upon as quickly as possible.

My question is to the Minister of Energy. We all know that the people of Ontario are struggling with the rising costs of food, fuel and everyday essential items because of the federal Liberal carbon tax. However, when Premiers of all political stripes—NDP, Liberal, PC—

Interjections.

When I speak to farmers in my riding of Perth–Wellington, I constantly hear about how the production—

We know that the rising expenses for our hard-working farmers are only making food more expensive for all Ontarians. The federal government needs to act now and get rid of this regressive tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is driving up the costs of everything for Ontarians, especially—

Speaker, our farmers need our support, and that’s why our government continues to fight this disastrous Liberal carbon tax every step of the way. But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, has never seen a tax she does not like. To this date, the Liberals in this place still refuse to stand up against this carbon tax.

Can the minister please tell this House why Ontario families cannot afford this tax increase that Bonnie Crombie is planning for?

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. La violence commise par des partenaires intimes est malheureusement très présente dans le nord de l’Ontario. Le gouvernement a fermé la station de Police provinciale de l’Ontario à Gogama et à Foleyet. Les longs délais lors des appels à l’aide mettent les survivantes en grand danger.

Je suis heureuse que le gouvernement va appuyer le projet de loi néo-démocrate et déclarer la violence commise par des partenaires intimes une épidémie, mais est-ce que le gouvernement peut nous assurer qu’on aura des solutions mises en place dans les plus brefs délais pour aider les communautés francophones et les communautés du nord de l’Ontario?

Has the Premier lifted a bale of hay?