Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier. Last week, I met with seniors from my community of Scarborough–Guildwood to discuss their concerns. Living on a fixed income means that every day, they are falling further and further behind in this affordability crisis. They are concerned about what the future looks like for their grandchildren and future generations and whether their grandchildren will ever be able to afford a home. They are concerned about having to use their credit card instead of an OHIP card to access the health care they need.

At a time when Ontario families are struggling to pay the bills, the Premier is more concerned with helping wealthy, well-connected insiders. My question to the Premier: When will the government stop putting themselves and their wealthy friends first, and focus on making life more affordable for families in Ontario?

Interjections.

It’s ironic to hear from the NDP and Liberals about affordability for transportation. When this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, brought forward One Fare, which eliminates the double fare and saves commuters $1,600, both the NDP and Liberals voted against this not just once, they voted against One Fare twice. Now, One Fare is a successful program. Over five million users use One Fare right now. They have benefited from millions of dollars in savings.

We won’t take lessons from parties who vote against affordability like One Fare, which saves $1,600. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we’ll continue to build transportation, we’ll continue to increase the service and we’ll continue to put more money back into people’s pockets.

On this side of the House, we got One Fare done. We are getting transportation built right across Ontario. Not just One Fare—we are bringing back the Northlander that the NDP and Liberals shut down 12 years ago.

We’ll continue to make sure we’ll make life more affordable for transit riders in Ontario.

I want to thank my colleague from Nickel Belt for her question. She’s absolutely right: There is nothing in this bill that actually addresses the affordability crisis.

As I stated at the start, Ontario is in an affordability crisis. Energy costs are high, and consumers, the people in this province, are struggling to pay their bills. So why would the Conservative government, during an affordability crisis, bring forward a piece of legislation that actually drives up energy costs, that actually increases the bills that Ontarians are faced with, and on top of that, making matters worse, is also interfering with an independent regulator’s decision at great legal risk? Thank you.

Thank you to my colleague from Parkdale–High Park for your presentation, focusing on affordability and the Orwellian title of Bill 165.

When the standing committee met to discuss Bill 165, representatives from Unifor, including Samia Hashi and Doug Carter, testified at the committee and they stated that the Ontario Energy Board needs to do a much better job of monitoring gas companies’ investments in infrastructure. They actually stated to the committee, “When gas leaks are not fixed, Ontario families pay three times: They pay through delayed investment in upgrading and maintaining our gas infrastructure; they pay for it through climate change; they pay through the increased risks of major safety incidents.”

Would the member like to comment about how this government is not looking after affordability in this bill and actually could do so by listening to the representatives from Unifor?