The member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

It has long been the established practice of this House that members should not use props, signage or accessories that are intended to express a political message or are likely to cause disorder. This also extends to members’ attire, where logos, symbols, slogans, and other political messaging are not permitted. This Legislature is a forum for debate, and the expectation in the chamber is that political statements should be made during debate rather than through the use of props or symbols.

I’m going to ask the member for Hamilton Centre to come to order.

Interjection.

Sarah Jama, you are named. You must leave the chamber.

The member is currently not eligible to be recognized in the House pursuant to the order of the House adopted October 23, 2023. As a result of being named, the member, for the remainder of the day, is ineligible to vote on matters before the assembly; attend and participate in any committee proceedings; use the media studio; and table notices of motion, written questions and petitions.

First and foremost, over the last two years, on average, our hospitals have seen a 4% increase in their operating budgets.

For a decade, under the Liberals, supported by the NDP, they underfunded the health care system, closing hospitals, closing hospital beds, creating lengthy wait times, firing nurses, and cutting medical school residency spots.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is making record investments in our health care to provide a system responsive to the needs of Ontarians. Since 2018, we’ve increased our health care budget by 30%, investing $85 billion into our publicly funded health care system this year alone.

Our bold and innovative action has seen Ontario have the shortest wait times for surgeries in Canada, with 80% of all Ontarians now receiving surgery within the target time.

I’d like to welcome the terrific Toronto East Residents for Renewable Energy, TERRE, to the House today.

I’d like to welcome the family of Lyra, our page from Kitchener Centre: Bob Cutler, Sue Cutler and Matty Hayes. Welcome to your House.

I’d like to welcome back to the House my friend from Ottawa and member of the Ontario Autism Coalition Kate Dudley-Logue.

It’s my pleasure to welcome Monica Singh Soares to the House today. Not only is Monica an outstanding councillor from the municipality of Southgate in Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound; she’s also, more importantly, the mother of page Bella-Sitara, who has been with us the last three weeks.

Welcome, Monica.

I’d like to introduce to the House Deani Van Pelt, president of Edvance, and Tim Bentum, director of leadership for Edvance.

Welcome to the people’s House.

Okay, I’m going to make this a supplementary. I’ll make this question to the House leader. This is outrageous that we are seeing one of our members removed from—

Other provinces have tried private clinics and have been forced to walk it back as wait times got longer and the quality of care got worse.

Opening up more for-profit facilities will mean fewer nurses and health care workers for public hospitals, where we have emergency rooms and the capacity to do the most complex procedures.

Why is this minister ignoring the lessons from BC and Alberta, who saw their health systems worsen with privatization?

When businesses, which are motivated by profits, enter the health care system, it’s patients who have to pay the price. We’ve already seen this happen with cataract surgeries that cost two and three times more in for-profit surgical clinics than in the public hospital.

Back to the Minister of Health: Does the minister like corporations making money off of sick people?

Interjections.

Speaker, my question is for the Premier. Will the Premier stand behind his words and compel his caucus to support the freedom to wear cultural attire here at Queen’s Park?

I have never seen a government more willing to divide than this government here today, and we’ve seen it for months and months. At a time when we should be bringing people together, they want to remove people.

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

I am going to say, I am absolutely—

Interjections.

I will say, I wish the Premier was here to answer this question—

Interjections.

That’s not the same subject as the original question.

Member for Ottawa Centre, come to order. Leader of the Opposition, come to order. Member for Brampton North, come to order.

I think there’s still some time. Start the clock.

Government House leader.

Final supplementary.

I remind all members that we don’t make reference to the absence of any member, because on any given day, one of us might be not here, as we know.

Interjections.

Start the clock.

The government House leader can respond.

The Leader of the Opposition is, of course, speaking of a member of her caucus whom she removed from her caucus.

Having said that, I think the Premier has been very clear on where he stands. It’s a decision that the Speaker has made.

At the same time, Speaker, I am quite concerned that the Leader of the Opposition continues to suggest that the members of her caucus or any caucus should be compelled to make a decision. That is not the way this place works. I am somewhat concerned that the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting that she’s compelling her members to make a decision.

We will continue to follow the rules, as established by this House, until those rules are changed.

Interjections.

I speak very directly to the people of the province: The government of Ontario has not banned anything. In fact, it was this government and this Legislature, led by that Minister of Transportation, who, in the last Parliament—

Interjections.

The Leader of the Opposition really ought to be ashamed for what it is that she is doing here today—suggesting to the people of the province of Ontario that the government has made a decision that it has not done. This is a decision of the Legislative Assembly. If those rules change, of course we will follow those—

Interjections.

What Progressive Conservatives do on this side of the House is stand up for all of the people of the province of Ontario. We don’t sit on our benches, compelling our members. We stand up for everybody, no matter where you come from, no matter what you believe in. We don’t use this chamber as a place to divide people. That’s not what responsible parliamentarians do. It is what she does and—

Interjections.

Stop the clock.

Members will please take their seats.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Start the clock.

The next question.

Minister of Energy.

I’ll remind the members not to make reference to the absence of another member.

Start the clock. Supplementary.

The Minister of Energy can reply.

In fact, we’re not cutting funding for affordable housing.

Do you know who’s cutting funding? The Liberal-NDP government in Ottawa. That is who is cutting funding, by billions of dollars, for the people of Ontario. It’s an agreement that they signed in 2018 with the previous government, that we have honoured. We have overachieved, thanks to the actions that we have taken and our partnership with municipalities across the province of Ontario. Speaker, 426% of renovations have been completed under this government—because we inherited a mess from the others—11,000 of the 19,000 units that had to be built over 10 years were already there. But unilaterally, the NDP-Liberal government in Ottawa has decided to cut billions of dollars from the people of the province of Ontario for affordable housing.

I ask the member opposite—they have an opportunity to call their federal cousins in Ottawa to say that they will not support the federal budget unless the federal budget includes the restoration of the billions of dollars in funds that were unilaterally removed from affordable housing in Ontario.

There’s one—one—government that is opposed to affordable housing funding, and that is the federal Liberal and NDP government, who unilaterally decided to cut funding to the province of Ontario. They didn’t cut funding anywhere else, just Ontario. And do you know who’s staying silent? It is the NDP in Ottawa. They have an opportunity to vote against the federal budget or to say, “Add the funding back in for the province of Ontario and then we will support the budget.” But they’ll stay silent, because they’re just like the NDP here: irrelevant.

My question is for the Premier.

Ontario’s housing crisis has become beyond parody. An Airbnb owner says she posted three tents in a room as a joke, but people are so desperate that the joke has become a reality: $720 a month for a tent in a shared room—but hey, they come with their own lock. I call this hitting rock bottom.

Can the Premier tell me whether these three tents will count as affordable housing homes or one tent will be counted as affordable housing under his own strategy?

My question is for the Minister of Energy. People across this province and in Whitby are struggling with out-of-control costs due to the federal carbon tax. This tax is punishing hard-working families and costing them hundreds of dollars more than the rebates they receive.

Speaker, it’s unfair that the federal Liberals are making everything more expensive at a time when many Ontarians continue to face affordability concerns. But it seems like Justin Trudeau and his ally Bonnie Crombie don’t care about reaching further into our pockets to achieve their own political objectives. This has to come to an end.

The carbon tax has to come to an end.

Could the minister please explain what our government is doing to support the people of Ontario without—

Speaker, the hard-working people of this province are paying higher prices for everything because of the sky-high carbon tax.

It’s absolutely disgraceful that the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, and her Liberal caucus support a tax grab that punishes hard-working families and local businesses. They must come to their senses now and join our government in calling for an end to this disastrous tax.

Can the minister please—

Speaker, the member is right; we’re not imposing a carbon tax in Ontario.

As a matter of fact, we’re giving the people of Ontario tax breaks at the pumps—10.7 cents a litre until the end of this year. We’re lowering taxes, we’re lowering fees, and as a result, we are seeing multi-billion dollar investments in our province.

As a matter of fact, right now, the Premier is standing in Alliston, Ontario, announcing the largest investment in our country’s history, at the Honda plant.

We’re seeing record investments, multi-billion dollar investments.

We have a plan for Ontario. It doesn’t—

The queen of the carbon tax, the leader of the Liberals, combined with the NDP—they want to have the highest carbon tax in the world.

We have a plan called Powering Ontario’s Growth. And the Premier announced, this morning, the largest investment in Canada’s history, in Ontario—a $15-billion investment in Alliston, at the Honda plant. That’s on top of the multi-billion dollar investments, in what were previously the largest investments in Canadian history, at Volkswagen in St. Thomas and LG-Stellantis in Windsor and the Umicore plant in Loyalist township. We have seen $45 billion of investment in Ontario’s EV supply chain, because our plan is working. It’s called Powering Ontario’s Growth.

The minister can spin all he wants and deflect blame, but documents reveal that this government is spending less on community housing and is making the homelessness crisis worse. The goal should be to prevent homelessness, which is better for people and costs less in the long run.

Will the minister do the right thing and restore community housing funding?

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. New government documents obtained by Global News reveal that this government continues to underfund affordable housing. The Conservatives have cut funding to community housing programs even though the wait-list for an affordable home has ballooned to well over 65,000 people.

My question to the minister: Why is this government cutting funding to affordable housing at a time when the homelessness and housing crisis has never been worse?

The NDP.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Supplementary question. The member for Toronto Centre.

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.