Today, I would like to speak about Porchlight Counselling and Addiction Services. What began in 1940 as a community support group for families who suffered losses during the Second World War has become a beacon of hope for many individuals and families in Cambridge and North Dumfries.

Porchlight Counselling and Addiction Services offers a wide range of support to those young and old in need of help with addictions, family relationships, anxiety and depression. Led by executive director Cameron Dearlove, Porchlight is a safe space where counselling and addiction services are improving the lives of countless people in my riding.

Porchlight has many funding partners to assist in the delivery of its programs, but it still counts on the generosity of donors and successful fundraising events.

This coming Saturday, Cambridge Moves for Mental Health will be held in support of Porchlight. The event will kick off at Cambridge Civic Square, followed by a walk through historic downtown Galt. Those who can’t participate can still donate by contacting the centre.

In my role as MPP, I’ve witnessed first-hand the good work that Porchlight does for Cambridge and North Dumfries, as well as the level of support it has among our residents.

I want to thank Cameron and his team and wish them good luck in raising the $25,000 goal they have set for this weekend’s event.

Today, I want to welcome Inspector Shaun Carter and Detective Sergeant Michael Baggio in the audience today.

I would like to take this time to acknowledge the life-saving efforts of Durham regional police and the officers who work in west division.

On January 16, fire and police responded to a fire in a two-storey home in Ajax where three individuals were trapped inside. Officers arrived on scene, scaled the backyard fence and heard a woman calling from the second floor who was holding a three-year-old child. The officers communicated with the mother in a very chaotic situation and encouraged her to drop the child to the officers below. One of these officers was there to catch the toddler amid toxic smoke and flames. Luckily, the child only suffered minor injuries. Unfortunately, the father remains in hospital, and the mother is recovering from her injuries.

This is just one example of the dedicated and heroic actions that our police officers perform day after day.

The Solicitor General and I had the opportunity, with MPP Coe, to visit west division to say thank you to these officers.

I want to give a shout-out to the team: Constable William Woodstock, who caught the child; Constable Josh Brown; Constable Nathan Fulford; Constable Joseph Lang; Constable Jacob Ohara; Constable Hasan Shafiq; Constable Mark Alarcon; Detective Constable Hannah Elkington; and Constable Richard Armstrong. Thank you for all you do every day.

I am honoured to rise today to speak about a very important issue that is setting a dangerous precedent here in Ontario: the expropriation of prime farmland in Wilmot township.

Back in March, Wilmot farmers were told of the region’s plans to purchase 770 acres of their land. If the landowners refused to sell, they were told that their land would be expropriated.

Remember that Waterloo region’s official plan accommodated all anticipated growth in the region until 2051 without significant farmland loss.

This government’s current legislation makes it possible for what is happening in Wilmot to happen anywhere in Ontario, with no transparency and no community consultation.

The region is actually, right now, operating under an NDA. There are no answers, no information coming from the regional level of government.

Stewart Snyder, a landowner and farmer says, “Something’s not right. We’re not just being mistreated as farmers and landowners, but the whole community is being left in the dark about what’s going on.”

On Friday, the NDP leader and other NDP MPPs, including myself, held a town hall in Wilmot, and almost 500 people attended.

This is very clearly greenbelt 2.0. We the official opposition will get to the bottom of this, just like we did with the greenbelt, and we will continue to fight for farmers in Wilmot.

It is my absolute pleasure to rise today to discuss a recent funding announcement in my riding of Flamborough–Glanbrook.

On April 12, alongside the Minister of Education, I announced that our government is investing over $31 million in the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board for the new Waterdown Bay Elementary School and an addition to Mount Hope Elementary School. This investment will support the creation of 682 student spaces and 176 licensed child care spaces for my community. Parents and representatives from the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board have been influential throughout the process. They have been strong advocates for our community and demonstrated our need for this funding.

Due to its unlimited potential, Flamborough–Glanbrook is one of the fastest-growing communities right across Ontario. By investing in early learning, we are laying the foundation for the next generation of leaders and innovators to build on this success.

Schools and access to child care are important for Ontario’s students and parents. Our students deserve to learn in state-of-the-art, modern facilities.

Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes the importance of getting new schools and expansions to existing schools built as quickly as possible for our growing communities.

Everyone has the right to an affordable home, but in my community, it’s harder than ever to find that affordable home. Oshawa has experienced some of the most dramatic rent increases in the province. Between 2014 and 2023, the cost of renting increased by 61%. That’s more than Toronto, and nearly four times the government’s rent increase guideline.

My office regularly hears from families, students and seniors who are struggling to find safe and suitable housing that fits their budget. The money people used to be able to spend in our community or save for the future is now going towards keeping the roof over their heads.

This affordability crisis has left too many people out in the cold. The region of Durham has reported a 67% increase in homelessness over the past year.

The John Howard Society of Durham Region has worked with our unsheltered neighbours for years. Their director of housing services, Geralda Bray, told the CBC, “We were able to find housing in the past and we were able to house at least some people. But now, we’re finding it just so difficult to house people because they can’t afford it.”

We have to do better. People deserve safe, clean, accessible homes that they can afford. We need public, non-profit, and co-operative housing. We need non-market housing. We need fourplexes and real rent control.

The Ontario NDP is calling on this government to get back to building homes, not just talking.

People in Oshawa want to see government do something real about this housing crisis.

Housing is not a developer wish list. Housing is a human right.

On Friday, hundreds of residents from all across Waterloo region gathered in Wilmot to speak for farmers, to protect our farmland.

With the Get It Done Act, we are getting it done wrong—disrespect to our farming communities through policies that encourage expropriation, threaten good planning that prevents sprawl, and override regional planning. They threaten our groundwater, making it saltier and threatening the recharge. And it has the speculators circling, making farmland prices explode and threatening the future of this $50-billion economy.

The 500 people who gathered in Wilmot rallied together in support of our farming community.

I was happy to attend the recent Kawartha Lakes Dairy Producers annual banquet and awards at the Woodville Legion. We got to honour and thank our local farmers for producing such high-quality milk, most of which is delivered directly to Kawartha Dairy, where it is made into their famous product, Kawartha Dairy ice cream, which we’ve all enjoyed right here in the Legislature and across the province.

Our featured speaker was Kawartha Dairy’s general manager, Brian Kerr, who highlighted their plans for continued expansion in Ontario. With 11 stores across the province, the most recent in Burlington, where their first month sales projections were met in just eight days—not surprising. Two more stores will be opening soon, one in Cobourg and one on the Danforth.

Their success is not only about the taste, but the experience shared by generations of families—the best marketing tool you can have.

Kawartha Dairy is in their 87th year, 100% owned by the Crowe family, embodying the legacy of quality and service.

Kawartha Dairy was also named Canada’s safest manufacturing employer and Canada’s safest employer for young workers in 2023. They’ve developed extensive training and mentorship programs. They employ 225 full-time staff and provide jobs to 200 students annually.

I’m always proud to be the MPP who represents Kawartha Dairy.

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of going to a brand new cafe in my riding, the King Street Café. It’s in Harrow, Ontario, and it’s being opened by my constituents Lisa and Geoff. On my way, I got a call from one of my constituent friends who was supposed to meet me there. She said she got pink eye and she couldn’t make it. She was going to go see a doctor to get a prescription for her pink eye. I said, “You don’t have to do that. You can go straight to a pharmacist.” She said, “Are you sure?” I said, “Of course, I’m sure. You don’t need a prescription from a doctor for pink eye. Go straight to your pharmacist and get treatment.” Well, sure enough, 20 minutes later, that constituent called me back. She said she got her treatment. She was very happy that she didn’t have to go to a doctor, and now she is recovering from that very minor ailment.

In fact, in Ontario, you can get treatment for 19 common ailments, including pink eye, diaper rash, insect bites, hay fever and acne. It’s all about getting convenient care closer to you, where and when you need it.

That’s important for my constituents in Essex county, because we live in a rural area, and we would rather go to the pharmacist than waste a trip to the doctor for something simple like that.

I would like to thank the Minister of Health for introducing this very practical and useful program that makes health care more accessible and easier to get for my constituents in Essex county.

I seek unanimous consent that this House acknowledge that the kaffiyeh is a culturally significant clothing item to many in Ontario’s Palestinian, Muslim and Arab communities and should neither be considered an expression of a political message nor an accessory likely to cause disorder, and should therefore be permitted to be worn in the House.

Calls and messages are pouring in from all across Ontario from Ontarians who are shocked to learn that people are being prevented from wearing cultural attire in the Legislative Assembly.

After the Premier publicly acknowledged the ban on wearing the kaffiyeh was unnecessarily divisive, we gave him a chance again today to do the right thing and reverse it. Yet again, his Conservative members have said no.

Will the Premier stand behind his words and compel his caucus to support the freedom to wear cultural attire at Queen’s Park?

We observe truth and reconciliation day to acknowledge the impact of colonial oppression and the erasure of and, at times, criminalization of cultural symbols.

Will the Premier support the freedom of cultural expression and stand with thousands of Ontarians who want to see the reversal of the kaffiyeh ban?

In this week alone, the Premier made a public declaration about the need to reverse the kaffiyeh ban, but his members blocked it. He has admitted he thinks his own post-secondary legislation is an overreach, but his minister doubled down and forced him to recant. Question period is just not long enough for me to capture the full list of this Premier’s policy reversals and flip-flops.

Ontarians are the ones who are paying the price here.

Is the government caucus losing faith in their Premier, or has the Premier lost faith in his caucus?

Ontario’s agri-food sector not only feeds us; it adds $48 billion to Ontario’s economy. But to this Premier, rural Ontario is just empty land to punch holes in or pave over, especially when his friends stand to profit.

I asked the Premier three times yesterday why farmers in Wilmot are being threatened with expropriation if they don’t hand over their land for some sort of secret industrial development. The Premier didn’t answer, and his minister couldn’t even bring himself to use the words “farmer” or “farm.”

Why is the Premier repeating the mistakes of the greenbelt scandal with this latest attack on Ontario’s farmers and prime agricultural farmland?

There are lots of places in Ontario that would be excellent sites for a new industrial facility. But the Premier wants to put it right in the middle of some of Ontario’s most productive farmland. There is no planning study to justify this. There is no agricultural impact assessment. And the Premier has no idea what impact an industrial site will have on groundwater or the surrounding agricultural systems, or how much it’s going to cost to run infrastructure out there.

Speaker, with so little information available to the public, can the Premier tell us why this site was chosen over all of the available sites in the province, and who stands to actually benefit?

I’d like to introduce and acknowledge Audrey Lo, a page from my riding, as well as her mom, Nicole, who is visiting today, as well as the grade 5 classes from Maurice Cody public school in my riding.

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.

Introduction of visitors? That concludes our introduction of visitors.

The Leader of the Opposition has informed me that she wishes to raise a point of order.

The member for Ottawa South has informed me he has a point of order he wishes to raise.

Mr. Fraser is seeking unanimous consent of the House 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. Agreed? I heard a no.

Mr. Fraser is seeking unanimous consent of the House that, notwithstanding standing order 45(b)(iv), eight minutes be apportioned to the independent members as a group for debate on opposition day motion number 4. Agreed? I heard a no.

It is now time for oral questions.

The House recessed from 1040 to 1055.

I want to welcome the Rehman family, who are with us today. Thank you for your leadership with Humanity First. We welcome you to the people’s House.

It is an honour to welcome today’s page captain, my daughter Mariam Rasheed. I’m so proud of her and the great work she is doing at Queen’s Park.

Today, I’m so proud to welcome my constituent Fikayo Aderoju, recipient of the Ontario volunteer medal for founding his amazing organization, Project Impacting Lives, which has helped countless individuals and families experiencing homelessness in the GTA and beyond.

Welcome again to Queen’s Park, my friend.

I’m wishing a warm welcome to a tremendous leader from Windsor-Essex, a true role model for so many in our community and someone who truly keeps on giving back, through and through, through her community leadership. I’d like to welcome Helga Reidel to the chamber today.

It’s very important. Today, in this Ontario Legislative Assembly, someone is turning 43. It is the member from Windsor, who worked on my first campaign in 2006. He doesn’t look a day older than when he was at Carleton University—

Happy birthday, Andrew Dowie.

Speaker, we know that farmland is critical to the success of our agri-food industry. That’s why we’re taking a balanced approach, working with communities to find the right balance.

Just look at what happened in St. Thomas: 1,500 acres of land was assembled with no expropriations. That allowed Volkswagen to announce their gigafactory—3,000 jobs, 30,000 indirect jobs. To get there, we introduced Bill 63, and that was able to change the way municipalities were handling the real estate in their areas. It facilitated Volkswagen coming here. The bill was supported by both parties.

Why are they not supporting us today?

I think the Premier was abundantly clear in how his views were on that.

I will say to the Leader of the Opposition, it is not in the tradition of the Conservative Party to compel its members to do anything. There was a free vote, and members expressed—members on whatever side of the House expressed their opinions on that. So I can assure the member opposite that we will not be compelling our members to do anything. It’s not what Progressive Conservatives do. We allow them to represent their communities.

Interruption.

We have amongst us the most diverse caucus in the history of this province—

Interruption.

I come from a caucus that is the most diverse caucus in the history of this province.

I don’t take any lessons from the Leader of the Opposition when it comes to how marginalized people feel. I’m an Italian Canadian who, in the 1970s, was spit on for being a “wop.” I don’t need any lessons from her on what it means to stand up for marginalized people. I do it every single day, and so do the rest of my caucus mates. We bring people together; we don’t divide them.