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 Jeff Dobbs, a guidance counsellor from Michael Power-St. Joseph High School in Etobicoke. He brought his grade 12 politics class here. They’re visiting Queen’s Park.

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 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?

The number one issue facing communities across the province of Ontario is sewer and water capacity. That is why we have been talking about this for months. That is why, of course, the Minister of Infrastructure has come forward with a $1.8-billion fund to unilaterally, without the support of the federal government, put those services in the ground, so that we can unleash not hundreds of homes, not thousands of homes, but millions of homes across the province of Ontario.

That is what the bill from yesterday does, as well. It targets action so that we can get shovels in the ground faster. It targets those communities that have shovel-ready projects good to go. That is what we do.

I suspect that the opposition will support us in this measure, and I encourage them to read the bill and support what we have brought forward, because it is the best way to get more shovels in the ground and more people into homes.

The other obstacle, of course, is the lack of transit and transportation, which we inherited from the previous Liberal government.

The other problem that we have is the carbon tax, which is making it very difficult for those people who actually build the homes to build homes.

The other issue that we’re having is the high inflation and high interest rate policies of the federal government, which are making it more expensive to get a shovel in the ground, and which were pricing out thousands of first-time homebuyers from the market.

That is why we are constantly doing everything that we can to target the investments that we’re making, make housing more affordable, remove obstacles, get shovels in the ground. And we are doubling down on the biggest investment in infrastructure in the province’s history. We’re doing it in the absence of a federal government commitment. We’ll continue to do that.

I hope that they’ll support this bill.

Moreover, we’re going a step further, because we’re also saying that because of unilateral cuts made by the federal government, we’re going to do even more to ensure that students have affordable housing, as well. That is why we are making as-of-right student housing available to our universities. Do you know what that does, Mr. Speaker? It puts thousands of rental units back on the market for our communities.

We’re removing the development charges on affordable housing. We are coming forward with an attainable housing program.

I hope that the opposition will support us in these measures, which make housing more affordable, which get shovels in the ground quicker, which deal with the infrastructure gap left behind by the previous Liberal government.

We’re getting the job done for the people of the province of Ontario.

I encourage the members opposite to consider participating in this committee, which will look at all aspects of how we deal with intimate partner violence. We have committed to a whole-of-government approach that builds on the incredible work done by Minister Parsa and Minister Williams on this. If the opposition wants to absent themselves from that work, that is a decision they can make, because I know Progressive Conservatives stand ready to do whatever it takes to ensure that the services that we provide victims—and the services are available to the providers so that they can provide those victims and their families with the best possible options. It includes the minister of addictions and mental health; it will include the Solicitor General; it will include the Attorney General. And we will leave no stone unturned to ensure that we have the best possible response. I encourage them to participate; if they don’t want to, that’s a decision they make.

My question is to the Premier. Yesterday, this government supported my Bill 173 at second reading to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic in Ontario. But I want to be very clear. The very first recommendation of the Renfrew inquest was one simple sentence—and so was Bill 173: “The government of Ontario shall recognize that intimate partner violence is an epidemic in Ontario.”

The declaration does not need another study at committee—data proves too many lives lost and impacted. The work has been done. The Renfrew inquest recommendations are there. This government has had two years to implement them, and yet they’ve refused. There is absolutely no need for the government to delay declaring intimate partner violence an epidemic.

So my question to the Premier is this: Will the government do the right thing, implement the first recommendation of the Renfrew inquest, and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic today?

Interjections.

Supplementary question. The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s.

The government House leader.

I’m going to ask the member for Ottawa South and the Minister of Energy, who are engaged in, I’m sure, a very interesting conversation across the floor of the House, which makes it harder for the Speaker to hear the member who actually, rightfully, has the floor and wants to ask a question—as well, there have been a number of members on this side of the House who have been heckling quite loudly. I would ask them to stop doing that.

Start the clock. The Minister of Energy can reply. He has the floor.

Speaker, yesterday this Conservative government said they will support Bill 173, which calls for this government to declare intimate partner violence an epidemic across Ontario. Of course, once an epidemic is declared, we would expect resources to flow.

Naming IPV an epidemic is an excellent first step and validates the lived experiences—the trauma—of countless survivors, their families, and the service providers, frankly, who have been working understaffed and underpaid, under this government, for years to support survivors. It will help honour those who are no longer here. I want to know when the government plans to do this.

My question is to the Premier.

Survivors can’t wait any longer for your committees, your public hearings, your consultations. They have been consulted. The experts have been heard. They shouldn’t have to recount the worst moments of their life.

It’s one word: “epidemic.”

Will this government declare and push through, fast-track, Bill 173 for survivors and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic today?

Interjections.

In fact, it’s not just this government; it was this Parliament that supported that motion yesterday.

I’ve received many messages from victims, survivors, who have suggested that they want to participate, that they have suggestions on how we can make services better for them. I’ve heard from service agencies over the last 24 hours that say that they have more that they can contribute. I’ve heard from First Nations partners who have said, “We have specific recommendations for our communities. When can we participate?” I’ve heard from the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. I’ve heard from the Solicitor General, the Attorney General. I have heard from Minister Williams and Minister Parsa—children and community services, and women’s issues. All of them have said, “We are doing a lot, but we can do more.” The only ones who think that more can’t be done now seems to be the NDP.

We have supported it as a Parliament, but what we will do is the next phase: the work that is needed to properly support victims. It’s not about virtue signalling. It’s about getting the work done properly for them—