It’s a real honour today to welcome Young Politicians of Canada, who are here today meeting with members from all sides of the House to talk about how youth can get involved in politics. I’d like to welcome Jaden Segal-Braves, Jake Patrick Medley Barton, Giulia Rachel Di Lollo, Anthony Saiters, Jacqueline Ching Hui Liu and Juan Esteban Loaiza Neira. I look forward to meeting with you this afternoon.

I also want to give a shout-out to the St. Francis Xavier secondary school students from Mississauga who I met with this morning.

I’m delighted to welcome to the Legislature today 60 English students from the Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre, the agency where I used to work as executive director before being elected. They’re here to learn about the Legislature. They’re studying for their citizenship and excited to vote one day. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

The Minister of Long-Term Care.

The member for Sudbury.

I’d like to introduce some of my colleagues from OPSEU/SEFPO who are here: President JP Hornick, Kathleen Arnup, Geoffrey Cain, Sara Fraser and Shannon Morris. I look forward to seeing them and many more of their colleagues next week at the OPSEU convention.

I’d like to welcome my constituents Maria-Luisa Tonelli and Sergio Tonelli, who are here at Queen’s Park today to see their granddaughter Ruby, the head page for the day. Welcome to Queen’s Park, and I wish you a wonderful day.

Good morning. Thank you very much, Speaker. I have a lot of respect for those who are good at their craft, especially when it comes to craft beer. Tonight, thanks to you, in room 228, join us for the craft beer reception. Speaker, drinks are on you. Thank you.

I’d like to welcome Lorna Hudson and Stacy-Ann Dyer-McNish from YES Employment Services in Thunder Bay. Welcome to the Legislature.

Good morning, everyone. I would like to introduce super Seren and fabulous Fatih from the Society of Turkish Engineers and Architects in Canada in our House today.

Also, I would happily meet the member for Willowdale at the reception tonight.

I’m very happy to welcome Samuel Farkas, University of Waterloo. He’s the brother of my hard-working ministry staff Ruth Farkas. Welcome to your House.

J’aimerais souhaiter la bienvenue à l’AFO, l’Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario : M. Fabien Hébert, président; Peter Hominuk, directeur général; et Bryan Michaud, directeur des politiques et des relations gouvernementales. J’ai eu la chance d’avoir de belles discussions avec eux ce matin. J’ai bien hâte de participer à leur évènement ce soir dans les nouveaux édifices du Collège Boréal de Toronto, le cocktail dans le cadre des journées de réflexion sur la santé en français 2024.

Au nom des Franco-Ontariens, merci pour votre travail. Vous êtes toujours bienvenus à Queen’s Park.

It’s an absolute pleasure to welcome the St. Francis Xavier model Parliament to Queen’s Park, with Ananya Agarwal, Caitlyn Chin, Joshua Dcunha, Anushka Desai, Angelina, Arianna, Gunar, Alex, Sara, Larry, Swasti, Jordan, Suriya, Amanda, Hannah, Francis, Aryan, Evan, Zaid, Tiya and everyone. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I, too, would like to welcome the Young Politicians of Canada, who I met with in the office this morning. They’ll be around Queen’s Park, so when you see them, say hello. They’ve got a lot to say.

It’s my pleasure this morning to welcome students from Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Angus, Ontario. Welcome. Enjoy the session.

From my hometown of Amherstburg in the great riding of Essex, I’d like to welcome Philomena and Larry Elliott. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

As we know, this is National Volunteer Week, and so it’s my pleasure to be able to introduce six students from my community, who are active volunteers in my office: Arthur Chao, Sagan Garg, Armaan Moon, Logan Stitt, Molly Zhang and Emma Wunderlich.

Mr. Speaker, on Monday, we launched the largest GO expansion in over a decade: a 15% increase in weekly trips; 300 new weekly trips for trains and for commuters across many lines, whether that’s Lakeshore West, Lakeshore East, the Stouffville line, the Kitchener line. This is our government’s commitment to get people moving. And of course, the NDP wouldn’t support that, just like the previous Liberal government, for 15 years, did absolutely nothing on public transit. I expect nothing less than when we launched the largest expansion of GO rail transit in over a decade that they would oppose that, just like they’ve opposed every one of our investments into public transit and getting people moving faster.

We will continue to invest in public transit and increase services across our networks.

I’m so pleased to introduce the Young Politicians of Canada, who are joining us here today, and students from the model Parliament of St. Francis Xavier secondary school in Mississauga—a group I’ve met with many times—and their accompanying teachers, Mark Saad, Carol Ann McQuaid and Abbie Elsie.

Thank you so much for coming, and welcome to your House.

It’s hard to think of an announcement that this government hasn’t had to reverse in shame.

My question to the Premier is, has his government considered talking to people who actually use transit to get to work instead of their million-dollar man, Phil Verster?

There are 82 Metrolinx vice-presidents on the latest sunshine list—82.

The Premier gave the Metrolinx CEO a 65% raise while he was still fighting to keep teachers and education workers and other public sector workers at 1%. He went to court over that.

Even with all of these highly paid executives, Metrolinx still can’t say when the Eglinton Crosstown P3 is going to open.

So my question is, why does the Premier keep rewarding Metrolinx for failing to deliver for the people of Bloor-Weston?

Let’s recap what the NDP and Liberals have voted against on public transit—the largest investment in North American public transit. The NDP and Liberals have voted against the Ontario Line. The NDP and Liberals have voted against the expansion of GO Transit like we have here today, infrastructure improvements that support the expansion of 300 new trips per week. They voted against the west extension that we just announced the RFQ process on a couple of weeks ago. They have voted against the Scarborough subway extension. The Eglinton Crosstown West extension, when that is built, is going to take over six million cars off the road. Guess what? The Liberals and NDP have opposed that. Their record on public transit is horrible.

Our government has a mandate to build and to get people moving, and that’s exactly what we are doing when we are putting these investments forward.

Interjections.

Our government is getting it done. We’re building transit. We’re investing in public transit—$70 billion over the next 10 years—when the previous Liberal government failed to do so. We’re making it more affordable. I hope the NDP and Liberals will support this government’s investments in public transit. Until this day, they haven’t, and that’s a shame.

I urge that member and the Liberals to get out of the Queen’s Park bubble, get onto the roads of Milton, of Brampton, of Mississauga, of Vaughan, and see first-hand the gridlock and the necessity for this project.

Flashback to June 2, 2022, Mr. Speaker, when this government received one of the largest majority governments based off their commitment and promise to build the 413, and we will get shovels in the ground.

Interjection.

Actually, the official opposition believes that people going to work deserve reliable and affordable transit. And you know what? That is why we in the NDP had to fight to integrate the UP Express into communities after the Liberals envisioned it as just this boutique line.

People don’t want a government that’s actively making their lives harder by just recklessly changing their transit routes overnight. Had the minister spoken to a single commuter—a single commuter—he wouldn’t have even put this forward.

Why does this government keep putting forward policies without consulting a single person impacted by their decisions?

The Minister of Health herself has acknowledged that the province can take action to stop this predatory practice, but has chosen not to—has chosen not to. Why has this government chosen to sit back instead of taking action to protect patients?

Interjections.

Not only are these clinics charging patients thousands of dollars just to get through the door, but patients are also being misled and upsold. It’s illegal and these clinics are knowingly breaking the law because they’ve been given the green light by this minister to expand in Ontario. Now she’s pretending that there’s nothing she can do about it, except for writing a letter, and that is pathetic, Speaker.

Why won’t this government show some leadership to stop this predatory practice once and for all?

We’re seeing the expansion of these so-called executive health clinics that provide primary care only to patients who are willing to pay really hefty fees. We saw this starting under the Liberal government, but it has totally taken off under this government. These for-profit clinics are taking advantage of the primary care crisis that has left 2.4 million patients in this province without primary care physicians.

My question to the Premier is, again, when will this government address for-profit clinics that are taking advantage of worried and anxious patients in this province?

If we can’t get this information through an environmental assessment, Speaker, maybe the Premier will finally tell us here. To the Premier: How much will Highway 413 cost Ontario taxpayers?

The government’s expert panel said Highway 413 would save drivers only 30 to 60 seconds per trip. The same experts said that if this government used Highway 407 better, it would solve the problem.

But when the NDP put forward a solution to relieve the burden of tolls for trucks on the 407, the Conservatives said no. This Premier won’t even say how much this highway through the greenbelt is going to cost the taxpayers of Ontario.

So I want to know: Why is the Premier ignoring solutions that would save drivers money and time today in favour of a project that will only be complete in decades and has no price tag?

Interjections.