I’ve got some sad news to share with the House today. I ask the House to join me in honouring the life of Whitney McWilliam—a dedicated public servant and, most importantly, beloved daughter, sister, friend and new mother to son Fynn—who tragically lost her life to cancer last week.

Whitney was the long-time executive assistant to Jeff Yurek, the former member for Elgin–Middlesex–London. She later served in the Ministries of Natural Resources and Forestry; Transportation; and Environment, Conservation and Parks before becoming a program adviser at the Ontario Provincial Police headquarters.

She was a wonderful person. Her love for her family, for her community, for our province was evident in everything she did, and her memory will live on in the many lives that she’s touched with her incredible kindness and her grace.

On behalf of the House, my sincere condolences to Whitney’s family and friends at this devastating time. Rest in peace.

To reply, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Members will take their seats. Order. Order.

Restart the clock. The minister still has some time.

Interjection.

Start the clock. Final supplementary.

Speaker, that sounds like a lot of excuses.

I should not have to remind this Premier or this minister that legalizing fourplexes was a top recommendation of the government’s own Housing Affordability Task Force. There are a lot of folks right now who are disappointed that this government has not implemented this recommendation, including the Ontario Real Estate Association. It’s just another example of how this government refuses to treat the housing crisis with the urgency that it deserves.

What’s the government’s solution? Well, according to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, it’s telling people to go to a for-profit homeless encampment instead.

Can the Premier explain why his government continues to fight the legalization of fourplexes?

The reality is that the government’s new housing bill does nothing to get housing built. It spends as much time reversing this government’s mistakes as it does putting forward any real solutions, and believe me, what it does put forward is very piecemeal.

In contrast, British Columbia’s NDP government has moved swiftly, and they are seeing results. While housing starts are down here in Ontario, they’re up 11% in British Columbia. There are new investments in non-market housing, new protections for tenants.

Why won’t this Premier implement the NDP solutions that have been proven to work in British Columbia?

Interjections.

Last week, the Premier doubled down on preventing new homes from having EV charging infrastructure. The government knows the cost of installing an EV charger during construction is so much cheaper than putting one in later. Drivers say the lack of charging infrastructure is a huge barrier for those who would otherwise own an electric vehicle.

Why has this Premier refused to make it easier for people to buy and charge an electric vehicle in their home?

Back to the Premier: Workers in Oakville are worried. Will you show some leadership, or will you leave them behind like you did with the GM workers in Oshawa?

The previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, chased 300,000 manufacturing jobs out of our province and brought our auto sector to the brink of collapse. In 2019, Reuters reported that companies planned to spend $300 billion on EVs and none of it was coming to Canada.

Since then, over the last three years, Ontario has attracted $28 billion in new EV investments, creating thousands of good-paying jobs across the province. Unfortunately, the NDP and the Liberals voted against every single item that brought this unprecedented success to Ontario.

By creating the conditions for businesses to succeed, our province is now a global auto manufacturing powerhouse.

Interjections.

Well, Speaker, it’s just the opposite; we’re not ruling anything out. There is no law against that right now in the province of Ontario. So we encourage municipalities to make the decisions that are in the best interests of their taxpayers.

At the same time, well over seven million people in the province of Ontario already live in communities where as-of-right four is the law. What we are running into, though, is that this is not something that is solving the crisis in any way, shape or form. My understanding is that although it’s legal in the city of Toronto, less than 70 of these units have been built; I know in other communities, like Vaughan and Richmond Hill, zero have been built.

We also know that as-of-right three has not been as successful as we had hoped it to be; less than 20,000 units have been built in that program. That is why, in this bill, we are removing the obstacles so that we can get the as-of-right three right across the province of Ontario—and we will allow our municipal partners to continue to make decisions on their behalf.

What we’re focusing on is ensuring that there is infrastructure in the ground so that, as opposed to building, let’s say, 70 fourplexes in the city of Toronto, we can build 1.5 million homes across the province. What the Leader of the Opposition fails to understand is that in order to build homes across the province of Ontario, our municipal partners need sewer and water capacity. That is why the Minister of Infrastructure is bringing forward the largest infrastructure program for sewer and water and roads in the province’s history. We’re doing this in the absence of the federal government. We’re going to continue to do all that we can to put the infrastructure in the ground so that we can build not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of homes in every part of this province.

Interjections.

We’re listening to our municipal partners, because the Minister of Infrastructure is bringing forward the largest unilateral infrastructure, sewer and water program in history, and the Minister of Education is building schools in all these new communities—roads, everything. We’re getting it done.

What the opposition would rather do is they’d rather keep people unemployed and then subsidize them to buy vehicles. What we want is to give people the ability to work in the province of Ontario—$28 billion worth of investments.

But as I said last Thursday, it is not up to the government of Ontario to fund a decision that you make. She talks about British Columbia—the highest price for gas in British Columbia; the highest expenses; the place that is most expensive to live in the country, British Columbia.

We are bringing jobs back, opportunity back. That is the record of this government: 700,000 jobs, cutting taxes, cutting red tape, bringing back employment to the province of Ontario in the same way that the 22nd Premier of the province of Ontario did each and every day, focused on the people of the province of Ontario.

Ontario has the workers, we have the expertise and we have the energy to power a strong EV sector here. It used to be a signature policy of this government, but now they’re throwing it in reverse, with a weak commitment to electric vehicles and sustainable infrastructure. In the process, this Premier is jeopardizing sales and production by not making our new homes EV-ready. It is so short-sighted.

The people of Ontario want to know—and I’ll go back to the Premier again—is the government backing away from plans for a sustainable auto sector in Ontario?

Interjections.

Good morning, Speaker. My question is to the Minister of Energy.

On April 1, the federal Liberals—supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie—increased the carbon tax by 23%. This costly tax is raising the price of everything, for both energy costs and food prices. It’s forcing Ontario drivers to pay over 17 cents per litre more at the gas pumps.

Speaker, it’s so disappointing to see the Liberal and NDP members of this Legislature turning a blind eye to the hardships people everywhere are experiencing. They should be joining us and calling on the federal government to scrap the carbon tax now.

Can the minister please explain why the carbon tax is causing damage to all aspects of life for the people of Ontario?

Speaker, people in my riding of Chatham-Kent–Leamington are concerned about the impact a whopping 23% carbon tax hike will have on their home energy bills. They feel it’s unfair to them and communities across Ontario that the federal Liberals have burdened us with this unnecessary cost.

Our government will not give up, Speaker. We’ll continue to fight this tax, deliver affordability for Ontario and put more money back in people’s pockets.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is punishing people in Chatham-Kent–Leamington and throughout Ontario who rely on natural gas and propane to heat their homes?

Speaker, let’s wrap it up. Let’s see what we’ve done. The Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade has encouraged $28-billion worth of EV manufacturing to the province of Ontario. The Ministers of Mines and Northern Development are unlocking the resources of the north so that we can power the investments in the south. The Minister of Energy is investing in small modular reactors—so the opposition knows, these are the reactors that will power the EV revolution of tomorrow—while refurbishing our nuclear fleet. And later today, we will be voting on an NDP bill that will kill what the Minister of Energy is doing, put in jeopardy what the Minister of Natural Resources is doing and put in jeopardy the $28 billion worth of investments.

So this is what I tell you: We will vote against that, and we will continue our program of investing in the people of the province of Ontario so that they have the resources to invest in themselves and they have the resources to invest in their communities. It’s about giving people the tools they need to succeed.

As I said on Thursday, I come from an Italian family. Many of my relatives—even ourselves, we had a stove in the garage. It was a 220-volt stove, because a lot of us like to cook in the garage. I didn’t ask the people of the province of Ontario to cover the cost of that stove in the garage. Do you know what my dad did? He called an electrician, who put the stove plug in the garage, and he paid for it, Mr. Speaker.

So I think the people of the province of Ontario can make that decision on their own. They don’t need big daddy government coming in on their behalf. My goal is to keep the price of home building low so that more Ontarians can afford to build it, not higher.

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. This government has boasted about their electric vehicle investment, but like so much they do, they aren’t plugged into what is really needed. Folks are excited about electric vehicles, but they won’t buy them if they know they can’t charge them. When this Premier was elected in 2018, one of his first moves was to rip out EV charging stations, cancel EV rebates and end the building code requirement to make sure homes were wired and ready. Without the infrastructure, automakers are signalling a slowdown on EV production. This Premier is putting good auto jobs at risk.

When will this Premier switch gears and support the future of electric vehicles by committing to the charging infrastructure that they will require?

This Premier has said he’s picking the side of developers, but we hope he will switch to be on the side of auto manufacturers, autoworkers, drivers and homeowners. Building houses already roughed in for charging is an easy and practical fix that we could do today to save people a lot of money.

So my question is, will the Premier put charging rough-ins back in the building code so we can have EV-ready homes?

Members will please take their seats.

To reply, the Minister of Energy.

The next question.

My question is to the Minister of Housing. A new report shows that Ontario rents have risen three times higher than guidelines due to rent control loopholes, with an average increase of 54.5% over the last decade.

Thousands of tenants in Parkdale–High Park and across Ontario are experiencing massive increases to the cost of housing, and there is no end in sight.

My question is, will you close rent control loopholes so Ontarians can find and maintain housing?

I’m very proud of the number of purpose-built rentals that we have increased. As the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing mentioned just moments ago, we have historic records of purpose-built buildings, and that is something that is important to the people of the province of Ontario who need a place to live.

We are working non-stop at achieving our goal of 1.5 million housing units, and we will get there with or without the help of the opposition, who would vote against every single initiative that we do when we achieve these records.

Mr. Speaker, I’ll have more to say in the supplementary.

When this government came to power, we recognized the crisis for what it is, and we made a public commitment. The Premier made a commitment. The municipal affairs and housing minister made a commitment. We will build 1.5 million spaces, and we’ll do it, notwithstanding that we’re starting from behind. We’re starting from behind because no investments were made; no money was put forward; the red tape was building up. But we will persevere. We will get the job done.

We are getting the job done, and we will not apologize for that.

Back to the Premier: Today, my constituent Lindsay is receiving an N13, a demoviction notice. She tells me, “As a tenant who is now dealing with finding a home on top of dealing with the immediate aftermath of experiencing domestic violence, I’m at a complete loss. All of the homes being built are not made for people like me and my two young children. I’ve started looking for housing options so I can continue to live and work in Toronto once demovicted, but there is nowhere safe that I can afford to raise my family.”

Speaker, there is no affordable rental housing in Ontario because of the rent control loopholes that have been introduced by the Conservative government.

Will this government admit that they have the power to help Lindsay and her two young children by introducing real rent control today?

Interjections.

The Attorney General.

The Attorney General.

It really highlights just how irrelevant the NDP have become in pretty much every single policy issue facing the province of Ontario.

The reality is this: We have increased funding to the Homelessness Prevention Program to record levels. The member will know this because she voted against that, as did the entire NDP caucus. We’ve actually increased homelessness prevention funding in every part of the province, including in the member’s own riding, by 34%. She will recall that she voted against that as well.

What we are doing across the province of Ontario is restoring, rehabilitating and renovating our affordable housing stock. Do you know why? Because we were left with an infrastructure deficit by the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP. What have we done? We are renovating, rehabilitating and restoring 123,000 affordable housing units in the province of Ontario. That is an unmatched record in the history of this province.

We will continue to support those who want help. As the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services said, we will leave no one behind. That is our goal each and every day.

My question is to the Premier. The owner of property in Innisfil has been charging people facing housing insecurity $500 to set up a tent on their property. The ad for the property notes that they will have access to a communal washroom and kitchen. Shockingly, instead of working to resolve this province’s homelessness crisis, the member for Innisfil has started referring people to this for-profit encampment.

My question to the Premier is this: Is he going to start counting tents as part of their affordable housing numbers?

Unfortunately—and this is shocking but not surprising—this for-profit encampment is targeted toward people who are on OW or ODSP because the programs don’t even cover the cost of rent.

This Conservative government has fuelled a housing and affordability crisis, and now they seem to be endorsing its exploitation.

Speaker, will the Premier tell Ontarians whether for-profit encampments are part of his affordable housing strategy?

The federal Liberals are doing to our country what the previous provincial Liberals did to the province of Ontario. Raising taxes at every opportunity, they chased businesses and jobs out of the province. Our manufacturing sector was on the brink of collapse, with 300,000 manufacturing jobs lost.

We came in and lowered costs right across the board. We’ve restored Ontario’s ability to compete on the global stage. And 700,000 more men and women are working today than before we took office.

Speaker, our message to the federal government is clear: Do not jeopardize the progress that we have made. Scrap the tax today.

We can’t allow the Liberals to crush our momentum.

Scrap the tax today.

My question is for the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Speaker, the federal Liberals think that they know better than the hard-working people of this province. When people are hurting because of the rising cost of living, it seems logical that governments of all political stripes would do their part to reduce costs. Instead, the Liberals are doing the opposite: They are hiking taxes at a time when families are already struggling to get by. Families are having trouble heating their homes, filling their gas tanks and putting food on the table, and the Liberal solution is to make things more expensive. The worst part is that Bonnie Crombie and her Liberal colleagues don’t even have the guts to stand up and tell the Prime Minister to get rid of this terrible tax.

Can the minister please explain what risks the federal carbon tax poses to our economy?

We’ve heard loud and clear from the people of Ontario that the last thing they want is a carbon tax. But the federal Liberals are actively ignoring the concerns of hard-working Ontario families, just as the previous Liberal provincial government did.

We don’t believe the way to fight climate change is by crushing businesses and workers with tax hikes, and neither do the people of Ontario. We have an abundance of clean energy right here in our province, and we’re making sure Ontario is a leader in building clean tech for the future, like electric vehicles. That’s how to help lower emissions; not by implementing a carbon tax that drives the cost of everything up and up and up.

Can the minister explain how the carbon tax will hurt the progress that we’ve made in reducing costs so that businesses and workers can succeed?

For the Premier: I never thought I’d see the day when having a family doctor in Ontario made you lucky; when people paid hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars just to access primary care; when riding the subway meant being bombarded with advertisements for health care services that should be insured but aren’t.

Looking back at the last six years, a lot has changed. Now we have nurse practitioner-led clinics charging subscription fees to desperate patients while executive health clinics make a fortune in a primary care marketplace of this government’s making.

By 2026, 4.4 million people won’t have access to a family doctor, and we can’t even say that our emergency departments are always open anymore.

Mr. Speaker, with so little to show under his watch, why is it that the Premier only increased health care sector funding by 0.59%, but has more than doubled the amount that he pays the staff in his own office?

But perhaps “forgetting” is too generous because every time this government’s neglect brings another feature of public health care to its knees, there is always a private, for-profit model there to save the day. Whether it is exorbitant subscription fees to nurse practitioners or executive health clinics, whether it’s pricey Pap smears or costly cataract lenses, whether it’s staffing agencies gouging our hospitals and long-term-care homes, this government rolls out the red carpet for anyone praying to the almighty dollar.

Mr. Speaker, what should patients who can’t afford this Premier’s private health care agenda do once his gravy train has left our public health care system behind in the dust?