Just over a week ago, I joined the Minister of Transportation at the intersection of two critical transportation corridors in Niagara, the QEW and the Welland Canal, to announce that we have issued a request for proposals to twin the Garden City Skyway. It marks another key milestone in our plan to reduce gridlock, connect more people to jobs, and provides a crucial link between Ontario’s international border crossings and the greater Golden Horseshoe.

Now, some in Niagara might ask, why twin the Garden City Skyway now? First, this is proactive infrastructure, which means, instead of falling behind, we’re getting ahead of the curve of growth for our region, because the reality is, Speaker, it’s impossible to widen the QEW in the future without first twinning the Garden City Skyway now.

Second, the original bridge cannot be rehabilitated by working on one or two lanes at a time. The entire width of the bridge deck must be rehabilitated simultaneously, meaning that without a second span, the entire bridge would need to be shut down.

With over 160,000 vehicles crossing the Garden City Skyway daily, we need to ensure that this critical link remains open. Drivers in Niagara know that under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is getting it done for drivers by building better roads to reduce gridlock and get people moving. By twinning the Garden City Skyway, we’re not only supporting our province’s supply chain, we’re strengthening our economy and building a better Ontario.

Questions to the member for Niagara West?

I indeed do have a question to the member from Niagara West. I do enjoy our hallway drive-by chats, so I wanted to comment on you quoting de Tocqueville. You will also know that de Tocqueville, his study on the democracy in America, is what led to that quote that I said to you. He also was very concerned and turned the phrase “the tyranny of the majority.” And you will also know that in using that phrase, he was concerned with the impact of a majority government and the well-being and the welfare of minority rights.

I would just like to say to you, your government has a huge majority, and you use it every single time. I would like to share with you my disappointment in the many times—for example, at committee when we or other members bring forward amendments that are there to ensure that everyone has a voice and that bills are reflective of the welfare and well-being of everyone in Ontario.

So I guess my question to you is, what do you think de Tocqueville would think about the fact that you often use this majority to shut out debate or shut down debate on these important issues?

Thank you to the member from Niagara West for his debate here today. I know, like me, he shares the frustration of seeing red tape that slows down the building of housing, and in particular, infrastructure.

I know the member from Perth–Wellington touched on it a little bit, but I wanted to give the member a chance to maybe talk about some projects in his riding that have just taken so long to come to fruition because of the lack of infrastructure and the lack of availability from the municipalities to be able to participate in this. So maybe I’ll give him an opportunity to touch on some great projects in his riding that he’s looking forward to seeing move forward.

I just want to say, do people know that rent in Toronto is $3,300 for a one-bedroom? In Niagara, it’s over $2,000; 23,600 households in Niagara for core housing needs—what that means is 30% of their income goes towards rent. It would take somebody to work 81 hours at minimum wage to afford a two-bedroom home in Niagara. No rent controls are not working.

So, my question, which I think is fair, reasonable and certainly balanced: Do you believe that we need rent controls on new builds from 2019 forward so people can afford to rent homes in Toronto?

It’s always a pleasure to rise in the House. I’m going to talk about schedule 10 to start off, and I’m glad my colleague from Niagara West is here because I’m going to talk about Niagara Parks.

I met with Mayor Diodati yesterday at Falls Manor, a great restaurant on Lundy’s Lane. It’s been there forever. It serves great breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I want to shout-out to Falls Manor. But I met with Mayor Diodati on an issue that I was a little surprised about. I found out that April Jeffs, who is the chair of Niagara Parks, has been replaced. Her term is not up, I believe, until January. She was appointed by the Conservative government, and those that know me—I’ve been to government agencies; I’ve been on the committee, I’ve been off the committee, depending on what mood the government is in, and I don’t normally stand up and talk about it, but I want to say that this was an appointment that was done right. April Jeffs has done an incredible job in Niagara Parks. They made more money last year than at any time in their history—David Adames, who is also the chair there that works there; he’s the boss there.

It really surprised me that she was taken off. What I didn’t understand, quite frankly, is that she was doing a good job, but what she was doing is, everybody in Niagara respected her. It didn’t matter whether you were a Liberal, an NDP, a Conservative, a Green, she treated everybody the same. And there’s a lot of investments that come into the parks, in particular down by the falls. It didn’t make a lot of sense.

So I wanted to say to April: I am shocked that they made this announcement. I wanted to let her know that the Conservatives didn’t call me and say, “Is she doing a good job or a bad job? Should we get somebody else?” But I think, from myself and in particular my staff—because April worked really closely with our staff; she actually worked for Tony Baldinelli for a while, who’s a PC. Tony’s staff and April and my staff worked very closely together, so I just want to say to April today: Thank you very much for a job well done and I’m really, really sorry that they decided to put a new chairperson there, which I’m sure will be announced sometime this week. I just wanted to get that out and say thanks, April. I really do appreciate when you treat people with respect and dignity.

The other one I wanted to talk about is the Fort Erie Lions Club before I get into my comments on the housing. But it’s part of it. The Fort Erie Lions have built affordable housing for seniors. They had one that I think went up in 1991 and they want to build another one because there’s a crisis in affordable housing for seniors. We know that because for seniors, a one-bedroom apartment in Fort Erie is 10 years; in Niagara-on-the-Lake, it’s 12; and seven or eight for Niagara Falls. We currently have 10,000 families on wait-lists for affordable housing, and it’s grown by 50% over the last six years. So I just want to tell a little story about Fort Erie and I’m going to read the notes so I get it right. I want to thank the Lions there that have been doing an incredible job in Fort Erie for the last number of years.

But here’s what they’ve done: They work with all the partners; they have the full support of the Niagara region. A CMHC funding grant of $83,000? Waived. Niagara region development charges? Waived—$694,000. Land development charges of $555,000? Waived. Town parkland fees of $124,000? Waived. Branscombe Family Foundation: a $200,000 donation. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities’s Green Municipal Fund grant: $90,000 waived. And the reason why I read those out is it just shows how much support they have for seniors’ development. And we said today, affordable housing is needed. It’s particularly needed for seniors in our community. That includes Niagara—and I’m including Fort Erie in Niagara; Fort Erie is part of my riding.

In Fort Erie, the local Lions Club has been working tirelessly to get an affordable housing unit built. I was lucky to meet with them last week to discuss this in my office. The goal was to build 62 units at the same location they currently have one: a nine-storey, affordable independent living apartment complex for seniors in Fort Erie. I actually think we should probably do this right across the province. For seven years, they poured their hearts into the work, striving to make life better. They’re a not-for-profit, independent living seniors’ residence in Fort Erie, but unfortunately, their dreams have been met with roadblocks, their aspirations dashed by the cruel hand of fate.

Recently, an opportunity arose through the Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative residential allocation program, promising a beacon of hope with a $5-million grant. Yet once again, they found themselves on the sidelines, overlooked and neglected. Even the Rapid Housing Initiative slipped through their fingers due to a mere technicality.

It’s disheartening, to say the least, to witness their project, nurtured by the unwavering support of the Niagara region and the town of Fort Erie, being disregarded time and time again. Their voices, though loud in our community, seem to fade into insignificance when it comes to securing funding in the face of the affordable housing crisis for seniors—quite frankly, in all the Niagara region, not just for seniors. I think it’s a shame.

This group has raised a tremendous amount of money and has been supported locally by the municipalities. These are projects that the government needs to be supporting. When people in our community come together to tackle a big problem we face like affordable housing, we as a government should be making it simpler for them, not harder. Their budget right now is a complex mix of grants, incentives, waivers, deferrals, subsidies and loans. We need to support projects like this and make it easier for direct grant funding to flow to get the project off the ground. If we start building true affordable housing again, we can begin to tackle the crisis.

What’s interesting about this project—and I know my colleagues would be interested in it; I would think everybody on all sides of the House would be—is that it’s shovel-ready. Think about that: shovel-ready, at a time that we’ve got an affordability crisis. They could start putting the shovels in the ground tomorrow if they get support.

I’ve asked the Minister of Housing to meet with this group. I think it’s the week of May 14 that we have Niagara week coming here. A lot of people are coming to ask the minister for some help on projects, so I’ve asked the minister to please meet with this group. They do incredible work. We all know our not-for-profits, our Lions and our Legions and the work that they do. It’s volunteer week, by the way, so we should send a shout-out to all the volunteers who give up their time.

Interjection.

Applause.

I’ll go on with a bit of my speech that I have, and I’ll see what I can do with this.

When I speak to my staff each week and discuss the issues we’re facing in our constituency office, I can guarantee you the one thing that comes up in all our offices—I don’t care what party you belong to—is housing. We have a crisis in housing. The one thing we’ve agreed upon, quite frankly, in this House—my colleagues have said it; I’ve said it I don’t know how many times—is that we have a crisis in housing. We agree that we need 1.5 million homes to be built. We also agree that we probably need two million. We also agree—sort of agree; we agree now. We didn’t a year ago. We agree that we can build these houses without touching the greenbelt—although I’m a little concerned that some of the stuff in here may get us into the greenbelt situation again.

Each week like clockwork, my staff will tell me the heartbreaking stories of folks in our community who are struggling to find affordable housing or struggling to stay housed. My colleague from Ottawa talked about somebody coming into his office and needing a pair of shoes. That is not a story that’s uncommon to us on this side of the House. I’m sure even the Conservatives will have some come into their office and talk about the fact that they can’t pay their rent, they can’t buy groceries. Quite frankly, they’re going to food banks—all those things. I think that’s happening everywhere. But the most important thing is housing. You need a place to live.

Unfortunately, in Niagara, we have some incredible social service organizations and staff at Niagara region who work hard each day to help folks, but sometimes that incredible work just isn’t enough. We simply do not have enough affordable housing. The issue of affordable housing has reached a crisis point in Niagara, and inaction of our government has only worsened it.

Let us confront the sobering truth head-on: The wait times for a one-bedroom apartment in Niagara Falls—think about that, colleagues—is 21 years. You heard that right: 21 years. In Fort Erie—which I just mentioned, about a seniors’ home—25% of the people who live in Fort Erie are seniors. I don’t know if you knew that, but seniors are 25%; 12 years for a bachelor apartment. In St. Catharines, just down the road—my colleague is not here today, obviously; I think she’s in her riding—there’s a 20-year wait-list for a one-bedroom apartment.

These aren’t just statistics; they are the harsh reality of a system that has failed the very people it was meant to serve. I think we can all agree with that. It’s a betrayal of our duty to ensure that every individual, regardless of their economic status, has access to safe and affordable housing.

As if this weren’t depressing enough—this one drives me nuts, and it really only happened over the last six years. I know a lot of my colleagues across the row—the Conservatives are talking, maybe not paying attention. But you should pay attention to this: Everywhere you go—and it’s in your communities too; not just Niagara. It’s in Toronto—encampments. We didn’t even know what they were six years ago. Did we have homeless in Niagara? Yes, we would see them in different places. But an actual encampment, living in tents—we never saw that. And look what you see today. It’s in every one of our communities. Put your hand up if you don’t have an encampment. You can’t do that. Even in Niagara West, they’ve got encampments.