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.

Guelph’s efforts to address homelessness show what a caring community we are.

Shortly after I was elected in 2018, I met with Dominica McPherson, director of the Guelph and Wellington Task Force for Poverty Elimination, to strategize how we could implement their vision to end homelessness in Guelph. We started working to bring people together. I’m proud of the way that all three levels of government, city and county staff, social service agencies, private developers, health care leaders, community funders, and citizens have worked tirelessly to successfully build three permanent supportive housing projects in five years.

The community’s efforts culminated with the announcement of operational funding for supportive housing in last month’s provincial budget.

Securing first capital and then health care funding for supportive housing have been top priorities during my time here at Queen’s Park.

We have a long way to go to end homelessness, but I want to celebrate the progress we’ve made by celebrating those people who have got us here: Sheila Markle, Daria Allan-Ebron and Leisha Burley from Kindle Communities; Melissa Kwiatkowski and Raechelle Devereaux of Guelph CHC; Kristin Kerr, Stonehenge; Gail Hoekstra, Stepping Stone; Kristen Cairney, Wyndham House; Helen Fishburn, CMHA; Emmi Perkins, Guelph OHT; Mark Walton, Guelph General Hospital; Jason Ashdown, Skyline; Glenna Banda, United Way; Chris Willard, Guelph Community Foundation; Luisa Artuso, Wellington county; Shakiba Shayani and Michael Keegan, Guelph chamber; Mayor Cam Guthrie; MP Lloyd Longfield; Dominica McPherson, and many others in our community.

Today I rise to highlight a crucial initiative that we organized to support our community in understanding the three levels of government in Canada. Richmond Hill is home to a growing number of immigrants who may not fully comprehend the intricacies of our political landscape, as well as the system. We usually do not meet in person, but this time, instead of a virtual meeting, we have an in-person meeting so that we can facilitate the communications between the speakers and the attendants.

Recognizing the challenge, I’m proud to have April Monday Matters on April 22. This is a non-partisan and educational initiative designed to empower our residents with the knowledge they need to engage effectively in our democracy. This initiative will provide a platform for the constituents to learn about the three levels of government and understand their roles and responsibilities.

We’re honoured to have former politicians, including former parliamentary secretary and MP for Willowdale Mr. C.S. Leung; former minister and MPP Mr. Steve Gilchrist; and former mayor of Whitchurch-Stouffville and chairman and CEO of York region, Mr. Wayne Emmerson, to share their insights. We trust that residents in Richmond Hill will benefit, to effectively participate in this democratic process.

We have with us today, in the Speaker’s gallery, a delegation visiting here from Australia. Joining us are the Honourable Greg Piper, Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly; Helen Minnican, Clerk of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly; and Speaker Piper’s wife. Please join me in warmly welcoming our guests to the Legislature.

Also with us in the other Speaker’s gallery today are members from the Standing Committee on Justice from the Parliament of Norway. Please join me in warmly welcoming these guests to the assembly today.

I’m also very pleased to say that, in the Speaker’s gallery, we have a former member of provincial Parliament for Burlington during the 38th and 39th Parliaments, Joyce Savoline. Welcome. It’s great to have you back.

Everybody in this House knows Kathy Parker, the hard-working, friendly protective service officer from Levack in my riding. Well, today, I have the pleasure to introduce you to her mom and dad: Joan Parker and Ray Parker, from Levack in my riding.

Welcome to Queen’s Park. Thank you for all you do.

I just want to give a quick shout-out to page Ryder Harris, who is page captain today. For those people watching at home, he’s doing an incredible job. It’s very incredible to have him here.

I’d like to introduce my daughter, Ayla, who will be joining me at Queen’s Park today.

I’d like to welcome to the House, from the Toronto Schools Caregiver Coalition, Katrina Matheson, Elena Basile, Caroline Harvey, Alexandra Merrick and Sandra Huh; and from the Save the Minden ER group, Patrick Porzuczek and Cathy Mauro. Welcome to your House.

I’d like to introduce two guests we have here today: Thomas Vaughan and Kathleen Sharpe from the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund.

I would like to welcome two important members of the Tamil ethnic media to Queen’s Park: Mr. Logan Logendralingam, editor-in-chief of Uthayan newspaper of Canada, and Mr. Shankar Sivanathan of Uthayan newspaper of Canada. Welcome to the Legislature of Ontario.

She has already been introduced—but it has never stopped me before. It’s really great to see Joyce Savoline in here, the former member from Burlington. As you’ll recall, Speaker, when we would sit over there, I used to call her my mother. And now I’m the mother of some here.

So meet your grandchildren: Sam Oosterhoff, Stephen Lecce and Vijay Thanigasalam. I adopted them, so you now have even more grandchildren than Olivia.

I’d like to wish my husband a happy 19th anniversary—since we met on that airplane 19 years ago.

I seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 100(a)(iv), five minutes be allotted to the independent members as a group to speak during private members’ public business today.

Well, of course, the answer is no. We look forward to the opportunity to move forward on a number of key infrastructure projects, especially with respect to those isolated, remote First Nations communities.

This member knows that we have met in the past couple of weeks alone with key leadership in communities and on behalf of Indigenous organizations in NAN territory about road access—road access that would allow and provide for the province to develop other legacy infrastructure into the north: electrification, getting communities off diesel, building bridges so that we can have communities access places like Red Lake and come down to the southern part of northern Ontario for other programs and services and create better access into the north.

Those are the things that we’re interested in working on, and I’ve heard from Indigenous leadership in northern Ontario that this is the right way to go.

The question is, will the member support those initiatives?

Remarks in Anishininiimowin. This week, the Chiefs of Ontario released their Ontario-specific Closing the Infrastructure Gap report. The report stated that it will cost $59 million to ensure infrastructure in First Nations is on par with the rest of the province by 2030. The gap is one of the widest in Canada. If these gaps aren’t closed, First Nations health and well-being will continue to fall behind.

Is Ontario going to continue to grow its wealth at the expense of First Nations who continue to go without? Yes or no?

The Nishnawbe Aski Nation covers 49 First Nations. They need more than 7,500 homes built now to ensure people are housed.

I urge Ontario, as a treaty partner, to improve its approach to housing by listening to what is needed and to quit using jurisdiction as an excuse to do nothing. Will this government act? Yes or no?

The final supplementary.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Government House leader.

In 2020, the Ontario Auditor General reported that funding for off-reserve Indigenous housing is cost-shared between Canada and Ontario.

What this government has spent on programs for Indigenous off-reserve housing is grossly inadequate, and there is nothing in yesterday’s housing bill that addresses this.

What progress has Ontario made in building the 22,000 affordable units needed to meet the housing needs for Indigenous people living off-reserve?

It’s unfortunate that the federal government has not lived up to its infrastructure opportunities in those communities. This isn’t about jurisdiction; this is about a commitment from the province of Ontario to build the kinds of roads that can create an opportunity to build state-of-the-art infrastructure in those communities. That’s what this is always about.

Every time we’ve tried to have those kinds of discussions with the member opposite, the answer has been, “I’m not sure if we can support that.”

They’re in the budget.

We’ve had conversations with Indigenous leadership about building roads. Our winter roads have been compromised—this winter, in particular. It’s very clear that First Nations leadership understands that in order to have state-of-the-art waste water infrastructure and other essential infrastructure in their communities, they need road access. We’re prepared to move on that. The Premier has said that explicitly to Indigenous leadership in the north.

Will the member opposite support those initiatives?

We have some very capable partners across northern Ontario, in particular—including here in the city of Toronto—who have done a fantastic job of creating off-reserve housing and working in full partnership so that we can accommodate for what is a serious trend, and that is First Nations people moving off reserves into towns and cities across this province, across northern Ontario and here into Toronto.

Again, these are pieces that have been in our budget, and every single time that we advance that, that member opposite and the NDP have voted against it.

Do they stand for off-reserve housing or not?

My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, the government introduced a housing bill that is both unambitious and underwhelming. The government has chosen to ignore the top recommendations from its own Housing Affordability Task Force, including legalizing fourplexes in towns and cities.

What is stopping this government from showing leadership and doing more to build homes in neighbourhoods people want to live in?

When I read this bill, I’ve got to say, I think this government is a sucker for punishment, because the Conservatives are once again looking at making it easier to build sprawl on farmland. The last time the government did this—they launched a criminal RCMP investigation into your own activities.

My question is this: Why do you keep trying to find new ways to pave over farmland?

The worst thing about yesterday’s bill is what is not in it. There is nothing in this bill for renters. There is nothing to lower rent. There is nothing to stop illegal evictions. There is nothing to fix the Landlord and Tenant Board.

My question is to the Premier. Why does this government keep leaving renters behind?