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—

We were having a very interesting discussion. I’m still baffled at the member for Ottawa South’s support for the federal carbon tax. Of course, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, his leader, supports that carbon tax, as well, which is driving up the cost of everything in our province.

We hear from fruit and vegetable growers and grain farmers; we hear from construction workers who are making their way from the suburbs into downtown Toronto, where we’re building brand new subway lines like the Ontario Line, building new roads and highways; and those parents who are taking their kids to school and driving them to their hockey playoff games and off to baseball and soccer, which are starting this year—it’s making the cost of living more expensive for all of those people.

This morning, I was at a really great press conference with the mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow—it was a great clean energy announcement down at the Portlands Energy Centre. She was asked, “Why is Toronto one of the most expensive cities in North America?” And part of the answer was the carbon tax, which is driving up the cost of everything, not just for the people of Toronto, not just for the people of Ontario, but the people right across—

Interjections.

The queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is clearly supportive of making life more expensive. As a matter of fact, her first edict upon becoming the leader of the Liberal Party was to have her party raise a million dollars to help pay her salary.

We don’t need the queen of the carbon tax running our province. It would be just too expensive for the people of Ontario.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. Our government continues to call on the federal government to walk back their disastrous carbon tax measures. This is a tax to which farmers, small business owners and Ontario families have repeatedly said no.

While we are steadfast in making life more affordable for individuals and families in our province, Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals and the opposition NDP keep working against us. That’s not what their constituents elected them to do. But rest assured, Speaker, our government will continue to have the back of Ontarians, even if the opposition won’t.

The federal Liberals need to scrap this tax so that hard-working Ontarians can keep money in their pockets, where it belongs.

Can the minister please explain to the House how the Liberal carbon tax burdens families and businesses across Ontario?

Interjections.

There are better ways to reach climate targets without jeopardizing affordability for hard-working families and individuals. Unfortunately, the federal government is unwilling to listen to what provincial leaders and, more importantly, what Canadians have to say.

When Bonnie Crombie was a federal Liberal, she was one of the earliest supporters of the carbon tax. And now, as leader of the Ontario Liberals, one of her first orders of business is to call for higher taxes, which is the usual Liberal pattern.

We know that the last thing that people need right now is another expense on their bills.

Ontarians cannot afford the federal Liberals and the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie.

Can the minister please explain how Liberal policies like the carbon tax are costing Ontarians?

To the Premier: Earl Grey Senior Public School in my riding is supposed to offer extended French, but because of cutbacks and disrespect for teachers, we have a severe teacher shortage. That has meant that students in extended French have gone without teachers for months at a time. This is increasingly a problem in many of our schools.

Why won’t the Premier provide the funding to Toronto schools to actually have teachers in class?

Three hundred and twenty million—that’s how much more the TDSB would have this year if funding had just kept pace with inflation. The Minister of Education likes to use the word “historic” a lot, but what is actually historic is the largest cut to education funding in the history of our province: $2.7 billion less this year alone. So instead of hiring EAs and child and youth workers and lunch supervisors and social workers and French teachers, school boards are being forced to cut them.

Why does the Premier think our children do not deserve these essential supports?

My question is to the Associate Minister of Transportation. Hard-working families and business owners in Whitby tell me that the federal government is choosing to ignore the challenges Ontario residents are facing. At a time when our cost of living continues to rise, the federal Liberals doubled down and hiked the carbon tax yet again, by 23%.

Increases in fuel costs make life more expensive for everyone in our province, including the hard-working men and women in the trucking industry. Ontario’s truckers play a critical role in transporting the goods we all need in our daily lives. They should not be burdened with additional costs. Speaker, can the associate minister please tell the House why the carbon tax is hurting Ontario’s truckers?

Unlike the out-of-touch NDP and Liberals, who continuously fail to support Ontarians, our government is taking every necessary step to make life easier and more affordable. Can the associate minister please tell the House how our government is standing up once again for truckers in Ontario?

It is not going to be surprising to Ontarians to hear members opposite defend the bureaucratic incompetence that takes place in many school boards in this province. But members opposite seem to believe it is acceptable for a board that is the largest real estate holder in the province of Ontario, responsible for $20 billion of assets, that sits on $300 million of unspent maintenance funding, that has $150 million of proceeds of dispositions sitting in cash—they’ve tripled the amount of sunshine list workers.

It’s about time school boards get a simple message to work to advance the interests of children instead of the interests of administration. Our message is clear: Balance your budgets and do what every school board in this province will do.

The supplementary question.

Thank you to the member from Whitby for that question. I am proud to represent hundreds of hard-working truckers who live in my riding. Every day, they ensure we have the goods that they deliver, and they tell me all the time that the carbon tax adds unnecessary costs to each delivery that they make. This only makes the cost of everything more expensive. The truckers are not asking for a free ride; they are asking for a fair one. Their commitment to our economy is not phased with a penalty.

According to the Ontario Trucking Association, the carbon tax of 17.4 cents per litre increases the cost for a long-haul truck between $15,000 to $20,000 per truck per year. It is clear the carbon tax is hurting the economy and making life more expensive. The federal government and Minister Guilbeault are out of touch. We call on the federal government to axe the tax.

The carbon tax is only a tax on hard-working people who fill up their cars, heat their homes and rely on truckers who deliver their goods. I invite Minister Guilbeault to come to Scarborough to meet the hard-working men and women who deliver our goods. They will tell him that the carbon tax is making it harder for a family to put food on the table and to heat up their homes, Speaker, and adding to the inflation.

Only this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, and with this transportation minister, we will fight for businesses and families. The Progressive Conservative government will stand up against the carbon tax.

Thank you to the member opposite for that very important question. For years, we’ve watched as the Liberals, propped up by the NDP, drove away hundreds of thousands of jobs—manufacturing jobs, well-paying jobs—south of the border. But all that changed when we got elected.

In the last three years, we’ve seen $28 billion in new auto and EV investments, resulting in the creation of thousands of good-paying jobs. Last year alone, more than 180,000 good-paying jobs were created in Ontario. And just last month, Ontario was leading the nation in job creation with 26,100 new jobs added to the province’s economy.

Ontario is the number two auto producer in North America, building over 1.2 million vehicles annually. We have heard from Ford Canada that they are working closely with Unifor to ensure employees at the Ford Oakville site are taken care of.

My question is to the Premier. The Ford Motor company is pumping the brakes on its Ontario-built electric vehicles, delaying the start of manufacturing from 2025 to 2027. This news has left the more than 5,000 auto workers at Oakville Assembly and throughout the supply chain with an uncertain future.

The last built-in-Oakville Ford Edge will roll off the line in the weeks ahead. Oshawa auto workers know a thing or two about uncertainty. This government has been taking credit for this Ford deal. I would be very surprised if a two-year delay was part of the deal.

So my question is: Staring down a two-year delay, what is this government going to do to secure an EV future for auto workers in Oakville?

Speaker, we are not EV-ready, and we are falling behind. We need a serious EV strategy to grow development, manufacturing and the charging infrastructure. So my question is, what specifically will this government do to make sure Ontario auto workers build the electric vehicles of the future, and where is the EV infrastructure so we can actually drive them?

It is our work that’s been done in all sectors of government, but particularly at economic development and on the Ministry of Energy file where we are securing the power that we’re going to need for the electric vehicle implementation, which we know is coming, Mr. Speaker. That’s why we’re investing in new nuclear facilities in that member’s own region, the clean energy capital of Canada in the Durham region, with not one but four small modular reactors, the newest technology. And we’re leading the world when it comes to the development of that technology. We’re ensuring we have five gigawatts of new development at a Bruce C power plant over on Lake Huron, Mr. Speaker.

The NDP, if they were in charge, are against nuclear power and the 76,000 people that work in that sector in Ontario. Mr. Speaker, I don’t know where the NDP thinks the power is going to come from. Maybe they think we can continue to power our electric vehicles with intermittent wind and solar. We don’t believe that. That’s why we’re making the investments in the energy infrastructure for the future and are powering Ontario—

Interjections.

La députée de Vanier.

Ma question, en français, s’adresse au ministre de l’Éducation. La population des écoles francophones est en forte croissance depuis des années, surtout comparée aux écoles anglophones, mais la construction de nouvelles écoles ne suit pas le rythme. Je dirais même que c’est très loin de là.

Dans son dernier budget, le gouvernement a annoncé la construction de 1 022 places en français. Mais selon le Bureau de la responsabilité financière de l’Ontario, ça ne suffira même pas à couvrir l’augmentation des inscriptions juste pour cette année, donc encore moins à rattraper les importants retards.

Le 4 avril, le ministre de l’Éducation a annoncé la somme de 1,3 milliard de dollars pour la construction et l’agrandissement de 60 écoles. Donc, ma question au ministre est très simple : combien d’écoles francophones seront-elles construites avec ce financement?

La députée d’Ottawa–Vanier.

Je suis vraiment intéressée à savoir ce qui s’en vient. Par contre, merci pour les investissements.

Monsieur le Président, les écoles francophones en Ontario souffrent non seulement d’un manque de place, mais aussi d’une importante pénurie de personnel qui dure aussi depuis longtemps. C’est une crise de recrutement et de rétention.

En 2021, un groupe de travail a publié un rapport sur la pénurie de personnel enseignant dans le système d’éducation en langue française de l’Ontario, ce qui a mené le gouvernement à élaborer une stratégie de recrutement pour les années 2021 à 2025. Nous sommes maintenant en 2024 et le problème est très loin d’être réglé.

Le dernier budget du gouvernement n’a même pas mentionné une fois la pénurie importante de personnel enseignant dans nos écoles francophones. Alors, comment le gouvernement envisage-t-il de réussir à recruter et retenir le personnel nécessaire pour combler les nombreux postes d’enseignant nécessaires dans nos écoles francophones si on ne fait pas d’investissement?