I recognize the member for Perth–Wellington.

It’s wonderful to rise this morning to talk about our most recent red tape bill and ensuring that we get more homes built across Ontario. I hear often in my riding that we need to do more to help the people of Ontario have a home that meets their needs and their budget, and I want to present some of the details about these various themes in our proposed bill, Cutting Red Tape to Build More Homes Act, as well as some targeted housing measures in that piece of legislation.

To begin, I’d like to touch on some additional aspects of this bill and supporting initiatives that address our goal of building homes faster at a lower cost.

Our government continually seeks ways to help reduce the cost of building new homes, whether it’s through the most recent legislation the Minister of Energy has brought forward or whether it’s ensuring that we are proposing building code amendments that ensure costs remain low for our builders, ensuring that they continue to build the homes we need.

That’s why we’re proposing to remove requirements to have at least a minimum number of parking spaces for developments in certain areas near most major transit stations.

The proposed changes to the Planning Act would apply to the lands, buildings or structures that are located within certain areas near transit called protected major transit station areas. It would also apply to areas where municipalities choose to accommodate more housing around subway, rail or bus rapid transit stations, which is what we mean when we talk about higher-order density.

Instead of mandating minimum parking requirements, our proposal would let homebuyers and home builders decide for themselves, based on the market needs, the number of parking spaces for new residential development near transit. I think this is a very important proposal, a very good proposal, from a Progressive Conservative government—letting the market decide how many parking spaces would be needed around a major transit area.

Importantly, this proposal, if passed, could remove construction costs of between $2,000 and $100,000 per parking space per project, helping to make more projects viable.

I know we are in very challenging economic circumstances with the high interest rates, and I was discouraged to see the Bank of Canada not choose to cut interest rates yesterday. Our Premier continues to call on the Prime Minister to do more to lower interest rates as soon as possible.

We will continue to take action to ensure that we reduce the costs of building homes and apartments near transit, and this initiative, if passed, would do just that. Under existing requirements in some municipalities, this could save $50 million for a 500-unit development and make it cheaper to build and purchase new homes near transit. It will also make transit more accessible for the people of Ontario.

In keeping with the same theme, we’re also proposing changes to the Planning Act that, if passed, would help eliminate barriers to building additional residential units. We would do this by providing authority for regulations related to ADUs. Our proposed regulation-making authority would support the creation of additional residential units such as garden, laneway or basement suites. The importance of these additional suites cannot be overstated. Even in rural Ontario, which I have the honour of representing in this place, these additional residential units are a way for our seniors to downsize. I know a common term is “over-housed individuals”—who may live in a larger house but have nowhere to downsize within their community. Having these additional residential units gives them that option to remain in the community that they helped build, be close to their children and grandchildren potentially, and to enjoy their golden years. These basement suites, laneway suites and garden suites are just ensuring that we have those options for a variety of housing that our government continues to support being built across Ontario. We will enable future regulations that can eliminate municipal barriers such as maximum lot coverage and limits on the number of bedrooms allowed per lot.

I have the privilege of serving on the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy, and we were travelling recently across Ontario for regional governance review and that study. We heard very often from our municipal partners on a use-it-or-lose-it policy. I’m pleased to see our government bring forward this aspect in this bill before this place right now. It is important to prioritize the infrastructure for ready-to-go housing projects, and that’s what this use-it-or-lose-it policy will do.

We have heard many times from our municipal partners, as I mentioned, that stalled development and unused service capacity can be a barrier to meeting provincial housing targets. For example, seven municipalities have reported that over 70,000 housing units with planning approval have remained inactive for at least two years. For that reason, we’re proposing a use-it-or-lose-it process. This process will help address stalled developments and support efficient allocation of housing-enabling infrastructure, such as water and sewage servicing capacity.

If passed, our proposed changes to the Planning Act, Municipal Act and the City of Toronto Act would enable municipalities to adopt policies setting out how sewage and water servicing capacity can be allocated or reallocated to developments that are ready to proceed. This will result in fewer barriers and fewer delays prior to construction—or put another way, this will get shovels in the ground faster.

I know the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing spoke earlier. We meet often with AMO and ROMA as well as many other municipal associations in Ontario, and they have stressed the feedback to us around addressing stalled development.

Consulting with our municipal partners was very important with this legislation, and so we are enabling municipalities to better use existing revenue tools to pay for the development of housing-enabling infrastructure and other needs. We would do this through our proposal to eliminate the five-year phase-in of development charge rates.

Speaker, let me remind you that development charges are fees that municipalities can apply to a new development or redevelopment to help pay for the capital costs of infrastructure that may support this new growth.

Our proposal to eliminate the five-year phase-in would apply to development charge bylaws passed on or after January 1, 2022. For municipalities that have to amend their development charge bylaws to remove the phase-in, we are proposing that they be able to do so using a streamlined approach.

What’s more, this June 1, Ontario will bring into force exemptions and discounts on municipal development charges for affordable residential units. I think we can all agree in this place that it is important that we do not levy development charges on non-profit—the good work that Habitat for Humanity does. They were here a few weeks ago in Queen’s Park, meeting with a variety of members, and they told us time and time again, “Thank you for removing the development charges on Habitat for Humanity homes.” That is helping them get more homes built for those who need it in our communities, and I know our non-profit sector appreciates that—in ensuring that our affordable residential units do not have those charges levied on them. This would provide incentives to build more affordable housing across the province.

Speaker, obviously, this bill looks at amending the Planning Act, a document that I have the pleasure of reading often. I’m not sure if my colleagues in this place read it as much as myself and the minister and the associate minister. This time, we’re proposing to amend the Planning Act under the theme of improving consultation and providing municipalities and builders with greater certainty to get homes built faster. This proposed change would streamline certain third-party appeals to the Ontario Land Tribunal to help communities get quicker planning approvals for housing projects. This would help reduce building costs and, in some cases, reduce project delays by up to 18 months. That could mean getting shovels in the ground a full year and a half earlier, meaning people and families will move in even sooner to new homes, faster. To put that into perspective, between 2021 and 2023, approximately 67,000 housing units were subject to third-party appeals of official plans and rezoning. This simply cannot continue.

We’re proposing further changes to the Planning Act, and these would allow appeals when a municipality refuses an application or simply does not make a decision within the statutory timeline or a settlement boundary change that would accommodate future growth outside of the greenbelt.

We know that times change, and along with that, so have the methods for consulting on and communicating land use planning changes. That’s why we’re proposing a regulatory change to enhance public engagement on new planning applications and other Planning Act matters. We would do this by modernizing public notice requirements to enable municipalities to give notice on their website if there is no local newspaper available. Unfortunately, in many rural communities, there are no local papers still present. So this provides an opportunity for our rural municipalities, in particular, to have those public consultations on their website or through a newsletter they may mail out with their property tax statements, for example, giving them that flexibility to be even more accessible to the residents they serve.

Similar regulatory changes are proposed under the Development Charges Act. If our bill is passed, we will work with our municipal partners to develop best practices for modernizing public engagement and consultation. This could include expanding our reach to include multilingual notices. Ontario is a very large province, a very diverse province, which is wonderful, to see the variety of cultures represented in Ontario—but ensuring that our consultation process and our municipal consultation process around development is accessible to all. I look forward to having those consultations with our municipal partners as we move forward.

Our fourth and final theme is related to building more types of homes for more people. Under this theme, our proposal is to get shovels in the ground faster for priority projects. Under the Planning Act, municipalities can make decisions that determine the future of their communities. This includes making decisions on official plans, zoning bylaws, plans of subdivision, and site plan control.

We know a new development may require many municipal planning approvals before construction begins. Unfortunately, some Ontario priority projects have encountered delays when navigating the planning approval process. To solve this, we will consult on a new expedited approval process for community service facilities. We’ll be starting that with, for example, K-to-12 public schools, potentially extending in phases to long-term-care facilities and hospitals.

I know our government has put forward an ambitious infrastructure plan, which was announced in the budget a few short weeks ago—whether it was the over $1.8 million in housing-enabling infrastructure; whether it’s the Building Faster Fund that we announced last year at AMO, $1.2 billion; whether it’s the doubling of our capital budget for our schools, which I know was very well received across Ontario. We have many growing communities. I know this government is committed to ensuring that we build complete communities with schools, child care, hospitals, and ensuring that those planning approvals get done as quickly as possible, ensuring that those processes are seamless. That is what our goal is through these consultations—to ensure these priority projects are moving forward.

Speaker, we’re also moving forward with our consultations around the PPS, or the provincial planning statement, ensuring that we are putting forward a provincial planning statement that will get more homes built faster and sets out the rules for, obviously, land use planning in Ontario.

I know this is a very ambitious piece of legislation—ensuring that we work with our municipal partners who we heavily consulted with and with our home builders and our other community builders across Ontario; ensuring that we build the homes that Ontarians need, whether it’s the home for a grandma and grandpa, or whether it’s a home for a new family or a new Canadian to our shores. It’s ensuring that we have those places for those individuals too—it’s not just a building; it’s a place that they can build a community, they can raise their family, they can enjoy those golden years. That is what our government is focused on—ensuring every Ontarian has the opportunity and the ability to achieve home ownership and an affordable place to rent.

A question for the minister responsible—one of the things that I know he cares about, from previous discussions we’ve had about the need to speed up housing, is what happens sometimes when processes aren’t quite right. The minister intervened when the urban boundary expansion impacting my city of Ottawa led to some very questionable decisions with respect to how developments took place. To his credit, he took action on that front. But it disturbs me this morning, as we debate Bill 185, to read some advocates in the sector worried that this could repeat. There could be the repetition of, according to Environmental Defence, more “greenfield scandals” if we don’t ensure proper protections are in place that make sure that further development isn’t only sprawl development of single homes stretched onto wider terrains.

The government knows that everybody in this House wants housing to be built. We’re here to collaborate with developers, particularly for non-market housing.

I’m worried, and I’m wondering if the minister could respond about whether or not the processes that are now going to be set in place with this speedy development could tumble us into more problems that we’ll only have to correct later.

It is now time for questions.

Thank you to the minister and his parliamentary assistants for speaking about this bill.

There are lots of conversation about homes recently—and I was reminded yesterday of the motion about intimate partner violence. We had nearly 200 advocates here. One of the things that we heard very clearly from them was that one of the reasons that people can’t escape violence at home is because of the affordability of housing, and rental housing, in particular.

It has been almost six years of the Conservative government being here. During that time, it has never been more expensive to rent in Ontario. I didn’t hear anything about rent in here. I think this is something we need to address, not just for students, not just for everyday people renting—but people fleeing violence deeply, deeply need that deeply affordable rental housing. Could the minister comment on that?

I speak to many parents of university students who tell me that their children have made the decision to live at home and commute an hour each way due to the increased cost of renting.

In my riding of Burlington, we’re fortunate; students are able to attend the world-class colleges and universities in the city of Toronto, Hamilton, Oakville, Guelph, St. Catharines.

Can the member please inform both the students and the parents in my riding what our government is doing to help through this piece of red tape legislation?

It’s a very good question. It’s twofold.

We’ve been removing obstacles so that we can get more purpose-built rental housing built in the province of Ontario. We have done some excellent work on that. We have the highest level of purpose-built rentals.

The definition of affordable housing, which is something that we all agreed upon in this House—implementation of that. As of June 1, we’ll remove development charges across all of that sector. That is also good work.

We are also in the process of, hopefully, being able to conclude an agreement with the federal government with respect to the National Housing Strategy. As the member knows, Ontario has done some really, really good work on that. We remain committed to funding Ontario’s portion of the National Housing Strategy, which identifies homes for victims of intimate partner violence. We will continue funding that program.

Ultimately, we’re trying to remove the obstacles that will get more types of homes built across all sectors, because the number one challenge is that not enough homes are being built. High interest rates are a challenge on that as well. This bill is targeted to get more shovels in the ground.

This has been a growing problem across Ontario and, frankly, across Canada. As I mentioned in my speech, the federal government made some unilateral cuts to post-secondary education which facilitated the need to build more homes, student dormitories, very, very quickly in all parts of the country.

We are one of the first provinces to move to as-of-right student dormitories, student housing on our university campuses—I would say long overdue. We have instances where universities have been waiting—in the University of Toronto’s instance—10 years to build a student dorm. That’s too long. Every dorm that we build is another home that is available in the community. Our campuses across Ontario will benefit from this. Frankly, if I’m being honest, I hope that across Canada, all provinces will do the same thing. I suspect we will be leaders nationally on this, as well.

I suspect the member is more specifically talking about the right of appeal to a tribunal with respect to boundary expansion, where a municipal partner is either unwilling to respond or responds in a fashion that the proponent doesn’t agree with. We thought it the best approach to remove it exclusively from the hands of a municipality and from the minister’s office and to put it to an impartial third-party adjudicative body, as was done in the province of Ontario up until 2003. As I said, I believe this is the fairest way of doing it; it’s a more open way of doing it. All the parties will be able to provide evidence on this, and a third-party adjudicator will make that decision, removing it from the exclusive domain of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Thank you to my colleague from Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound.

I’ll give you a quick example, and I think you could probably relate to it in your riding—similar to mine. Dutton Dunwich is a community of 3,200 people. In 2019, they wanted to put in a new waste water system, upgrade it. It was going to be about $3.5 million. They decided not to do it, to postpone it. Here we are in 2024. They got the bill to do the very same project: $13.3 million. So it overwhelmed them. They had to stop the ability to build—it’s a growing community.

I believe our waste water enabling fund, along with the infrastructure dollars put in the budget, along with the Building Faster Fund, which is available for small communities as well, is going to go a long way to help these communities—I’ve got 10 of them in my riding; I’m not sure about the member’s. It’s these smaller communities that really are at a crossroads when it comes to waste water management, waste water—

Further questions?

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

In northern Ontario, we are very interested in getting rid of red tape for government-owned homes that need to be put up on the market.

I have given the example of Gogama. Three years ago, I wrote to every single minister to say, “There are 11 homes in Gogama that are owned by the government. There are 1,800 workers across the street who sleep in bunkers, who want to buy those homes. Please put them up for sale.” They told me they had to go through due process. I wrote back two years later and got the exact same letter—they have to go through due process.

When are we going to get rid of the red tape that keeps this government from putting the houses in Gogama, in Foleyet—all over my riding—that they own up for sale? People in northern Ontario want to buy those homes.

It warms my heart; I never thought that I would be here and hear the NDP wanting me to privatize anything, so I thank the member.

I honestly do not know the specific homes that she’s speaking of—although I suspect it’s probably an infrastructure-owned program.

I do agree with the member opposite on this. I think what she’s getting at is how important it is to build homes in northern Ontario, especially given the economic importance of northern Ontario to the success of southern Ontario. There are very unique challenges in the north, absolutely, no doubt, that require additional supports that aren’t required in southern Ontario. This bill helps unleash some of that, as well.

The more important feature, I think, is really the infrastructure piece, the $1.8 billion in infrastructure which will help unleash a lot of this development that has been stifled, as well, in northern Ontario—even more so than in southern Ontario, in many instances.

On February 27, Calgary welcomed athletes from across the country to the Special Olympics winter games.

I’m honoured to rise today to recognize Ella Robinson, Alex Cappuccitti and Rebecca Osmond, three competitors from my constituency of Ajax. The Special Olympics provides athletes with intellectual disabilities an incredible opportunity to showcase their talents and shine in a world that can often be challenging. Through these games, barriers are dismantled and new heights are reached. The accomplishments of these three champions are a testament to this, as they collectively brought home a total of nine medals. Ella secured first, second and third place in three race categories. Alex impressed with bronze medals in all four of his speed skating competitions. And Rebecca added to the team’s success by placing second in five-pin bowling.

As we watch Ella, Alex, Rebecca and all these athletes experience the joy and camaraderie of victory, we are reminded that this event transcends the boundaries of the playing field. It is an event that forms a community and fosters friendships that last a lifetime.

My heartfelt congratulations to Ella, Alex and Rebecca for representing Ajax with strength, unity and determination.

A special thank you to Donna Edwards, who has been an amazing coach and leader in Special Olympics for many years.

I recently had the opportunity to tour Ark Aid Street Mission’s Cronyn-Warner site.

I’d like to applaud the city of London and all of the phenomenal service and community partners working on the whole of community health and homelessness strategy tables.

It was rather cold as we walked down Dundas Street from Ark Aid’s main location, punctuated by our entry into the warm Cronyn-Warner location. I want to thank the Diocese of Huron and the board at Warner Place for providing the location at a fraction of the market rate to care for the marginalized people in our community.

Ark Aid has served 900 unique people this year. We heard from Rob, who struggled with accessing health care while homeless. He was proud to tell us about his improvements and his future goals. None of this would have happened without Ark Aid and housing.

Funding for these spaces and others like SafeSpace and many more will end on May 31 this year. Homelessness in London will not end on June 1. If funding doesn’t flow, 100 dedicated and caring staff will be unemployed; 120 resting places will become vacant—vital and necessary, but vacant. I was shocked to learn that the providers will have to warehouse all the mattresses while people sleep rough.

I call on government members to listen to their conscience and fund these beds now. Think of the people who are rebuilding their lives and whose hopes and dreams will be much further away without the basic human necessity of housing.

We have the space. We have caring people ready to help. All that is needed is political will. Housing is foundational, housing is fundamental, housing is a human right, and housing is health care.

Ontario’s 2024 budget revealed this government’s plan to rebuild the economy while continuing to invest in health care, housing, infrastructure and more, without raising costs for families.

In long-term care, the $155 million in funding in 2024-25 will allow for continued progression on building 58,000 new and upgraded long-term-care beds across the province—like the completed homes in Carleton Place and Almonte, and the Broadview long-term-care home in Smiths Falls currently under construction.

We’re investing just over $3 million to assist up to 3,500 people in connecting to primary care in Perth, Ontario, and $4 million to help up to 10,000 people at the Periwinkle site in Kingston. This budget also green-lit the reconstruction of Princess Street in Almonte and the reconstruction of Battersea Road in South Frontenac.

Access to high-speed Internet and mobile service is a necessity of modern life. That’s why we’re investing $71 million through the Eastern Ontario Regional Network to continue getting more communities online faster than ever before.

These are only a few of the highlights of the 2024 budget, which is supporting economic growth in Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston and across Ontario.

Our government is committed to creating stronger communities for the future, improving Ontario’s productivity growth, and building prosperity for generations to come.

In Ontario, yesterday’s acknowledgement that intimate partner violence is an epidemic, spurred by the Ontario NDP’s Bill 173, is a step forward. It is encouraging to see the government finally support this recommendation. However, the result must be genuine action, not more delay tactics.

Speaker, 18 months ago, I urged the government to review and to act on the Renfrew triple femicide inquest’s 86 recommendations to eradicate this violence. Leadership is about facing these truths, and the truth is, the government is acting too slowly. This Conservative government has a plan by experts that has been on their desk for over two years. It is concerning that the government committed to an in-depth study. The time for studies is over. The time for action is now.

In Niagara, we endured a tragic femicide only a few months ago, and while we have the best service providers anywhere in the world, they need our help right now. We need immediate, robust solutions: education and training within our criminal justice system; comprehensive and permanent funding; bringing forward an Ontario Clare’s Law; and secure funding for survivor services.

Let us honour those who have suffered and those fighting for change by committing to immediate, decisive action on gender-based violence—not another study and not another delay.

It’s wonderful to rise to talk about some important investments that our government is making, through our recent provincial budget, across Ontario, whether it’s the $1.8 billion for housing-enabling infrastructure, critical infrastructure to get more homes built across our province, whether it’s the $1.2 billion in the Building Faster Fund; $200 million for recreational facilities over the next 10 years; $15 billion to build new schools, doubling the amount of funding for capital this year in our provincial budget for our schools; and, of course, $50 billion over the next 10 years for hospitals across this province, from Toronto to Windsor, to the north and to Ottawa. We’re investing in Ontario, investing in the people in Ontario.

I know it was important to see the $50 million for stabilization of health care capacity in our northern and rural communities. It was also great to hear that we’re going to make the clinical extern program permanent. I know this is very important to our rural hospitals.

It was also great to see our government continue to build on our historic investments in primary care. Over $500 million will be invested to expand primary care across Ontario to ensure more people can get care closer to home.

Unfortunately, all the members of the opposition voted against the provincial government. They voted against primary care expansion. They voted against victim quick response programs. It is shameful.

We will continue to stand with the people of Ontario.

Once again, this year, I had the pleasure of attending the Halton Industry Education Council’s 20th annual Women as Career Coaches mentorship event. Congratulations to the team at HIEC for reaching this milestone and for your continued efforts bringing together women and mentors.

For 20 years now, this annual event has brought together young people and adult mentors for an impactful, inspiring and uplifting evening. During the evening, guest speakers share their career journeys and advice with youth who are just starting to think about potential careers. Career coaches sit at tables with young women, engaging in lively conversations, answering questions and offering encouragement. Throughout the evening, a lineup of inspiring speakers talk about their journeys and career paths, and youth have an opportunity to participate in a panel discussion. The evening is designed to provide the next generation with the opportunity to discover a wide range of potential career paths and perhaps think about new career opportunities.

Working together, we can inspire youth to feel confident and optimistic about their futures and their place in the world of work.

In the early 1990s, I was a high school teacher, and I can tell you, at that time, our schools were well funded; our buildings were well maintained. There was money for sports teams, extracurriculars and special education. And every child had a textbook for every subject that they took.

In the early 2000s, when my kids were in school, the government of the day started making cuts to schools, and I joined the Toronto Parent Network to fight those cuts.

In 1995, the government took control of our education taxes in Toronto, and since then, in almost every year, they’ve handed the Toronto District School Board a funding shortfall.

This year, the funding shortfall is $28 million, and the TDSB trustees are being asked to make drastic cuts to staff programs and services in order to balance the books. More important than that, there’s a $239-million ongoing funding shortfall for programs that this government is simply not funding—and this includes special education; it includes money for textbooks, and it includes money for sports and extracurriculars. And now the TDSB is considering cutting seniors’ daytime programs. They’re considering cutting grade 6 outdoor education trips and more. This is absolutely reprehensible—to be making cuts to our schools, particularly for this generation of students, who have survived through the pandemic and need more supports, not less.

I’m calling upon the government today to reinstate the funding for the Toronto District School Board and for every school board across this province, so that our students do not face another round of cuts.

I’d like to applaud the Scarborough Walk of Fame, which has been around for over 20 years. This organization promotes community togetherness and regional distinctiveness by commemorating Scarborough’s many well-accomplished icons.

The walk of fame celebrates Scarborough’s rich cultural mosaic and inspires future generations by revelling Scarborough’s natives in the diverse domains of arts and culture, community, education, environment, entertainment, fitness, health and science, and sports. Additionally, it stimulates economic activity and visitor influx in Scarborough and the surrounding area. Contributing to Ontario’s reputation as a vibrant and inclusive province, the Scarborough Walk of Fame enhances the province’s cultural diversity as a cultural landmark.

l would like to thank the chair of the committee, Mr. Glenn De Baeremaeker, his colleagues, sponsors and a strong team of volunteers on an exhilarating exhibition of the Scarborough Walk of Fame, 2024. It was wonderful to be there amongst my colleague MPPs and other dignitaries who have seen the showcase of the inductees yesterday.

I want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity to bring this message.