Let’s start with restoring integrity with the NDP and Liberals, who are all for this carbon tax and have increased the cost of gas by 23%. You know, folks in the crowd, you go up and fill up your tank now—it’s 23% higher. You know, when you deliver groceries, meat or produce, it goes on a truck. When they print something on those products, that gets taxed too, through the carbon tax.

The carbon tax is the worst single tax we have ever seen in this country. Even the Bank of Canada is saying it’s driving up inflation. What we need to do is get rid of this carbon tax. It’s the worst tax. It hits the people in their pockets. Let’s axe the tax.

Interjections.

Interjection.

We just announced the Barnsdale cut-off. I think I’ve been there four times in the last five—

We sent hundreds of millions of dollars to Ottawa. We have an incredible relationship with the mayor of Ottawa and the people there. People realize that we’re showing love to Ottawa that they’ve never seen in 15 years.

Your buddy sitting beside you is from Ottawa. You guys did diddly-squat—

I wanted to ask my question to the political minister for Ottawa, but I realized he’s not elected to this place, Mr. Speaker. In fact, he has never been elected. So my question is to the Premier.

The person the Premier recently named as his political point man in Ottawa is the newest passenger on the Conservative gravy train—a former lobbyist and executive with Shoppers Drug Mart, and, of course, the failed candidate in Kanata–Carleton. The announcement was met with near universal criticism. Some people thought that hell froze over, because even the member from Nepean agreed with me on that one.

Ottawa is Ontario’s second-largest city, with over a million people. We deserve an elected voice around the cabinet table; not a political appointee dispatched as if we were some far-flung place in need of an ambassador.

Will the Premier explain why his defeated candidate from Kanata is up to the job, when he clearly believes his three MPPs from Ottawa are not?

Interjections.

Let me quote the Sun—“Reports were coming in of a rare sighting of an Ontario Premier in Ottawa last week, like an errant booby bird accidentally blown in from the faraway tropics of Lake Ontario.”

Let me further quote: “The mayor rolled out the welcome mat for the Premier ... but his announcement while in town suggests he still sees us as a doormat.”

The Ford government ambassador to Ottawa was so committed to representing the voices of the people that he failed to attend all-candidates meetings during his own election in Kanata. If he wasn’t willing to show up for the residents of the riding he was trying to represent, why should we believe he’ll show up for the rest of us in Ottawa?

It’s grasping at straws, Mr. Speaker, but the rest of us know better. This is just another gravy train appointment putting a lobbyist and a Conservative insider in a highly paid position of power and authority over top of his three MPPs from Ottawa. When will the Premier recognize Ottawa as an important place in Ontario and designate—

And I hear it—if you’re a farmer who produces food, the NDP thinks you’re an enemy. If you’re a grocer who sells the food, the NDP thinks you’re an enemy.

I was at the Wellesley Fruit Market. It’s on Wellesley, just west of Parliament Street, and there’s a guy who goes every single morning to the food terminal—he buys all his produce. He’s an extraordinary individual who works very hard. And do you know what he said to me? The exact same thing that the Premier is talking about. When he goes there, he has to pay a carbon tax to drive there, bring his produce back. Everybody who delivers—when he is at the terminal, they talk about the same thing. The farmers are talking about how expensive it has become to produce because of the carbon tax. We heard it from the greenhouse growers just the other day.

The cost of the carbon tax is incredible, adding extra cost to the price of food. So I say really to—

Do you know what the other people in Ottawa are saying? For so many years, they have been ignored by Liberal politicians, and finally, they have a Conservative government that cares about them, that is—

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier.

If the Premier has been to a grocery store lately, he would know that groceries are too darn expensive. People can’t afford to eat properly. Parents can’t feed their kids nutritious food.

Ontarians are so fed up with the lack of action by this Conservative government that they’ve taken matters into their own hands and started a boycott against Loblaws, the largest grocer in Canada.

The NDP has long called for a consumer protection watchdog.

Premier, will you accept our call and restore integrity in the grocery sector?

Your inaction will drive more people to the food banks, and you know that even food banks are running out of food.

What do you have to say to parents who struggled to pack a lunch for their children this morning?

Interjections.

It is so important that we get this right, which is why we are announcing an expansion of mandatory learning in the curriculum dealing with the responsible use of technology, online citizenship, privacy, consent, and to further strengthen the knowledge on the perils of vaping, cannabis, nicotine—an illegal substance for a child under 18 in this province. We’re announcing funding in partnership with the minister of mental health and addictions to leverage community-based mental health and addiction services. We are expanding mandatory training of our staff. We’re empowering parents through parent involvement councils to drive localized campaigns at the school level. We’re also investing $30 million in vape detectors.

I am proud that today the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and I announced our intention to bring forth social media executives, tech experts and law enforcement to the government to meet with us, with one mission: to safeguard the algorithm, to safeguard the privacy rights of children, and actually improve the safety of kids in this province.

Order.

The supplementary question.

The Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Interjections.

Government House leader.

Supplementary question.

Interjections.

To reply, the Premier.

Interjection.

Premier, please take your seat.

The member for Ottawa South is warned.

The Premier still has some time and can resume his answer.

Interjections.

The next question.

There’s no government in the history of Ontario that has taken public safety more seriously than this government led by Premier Ford, and he leads it everyday by saying that it is absolutely crazy that our doors are getting kicked in at 5 in the morning and people are demanded to hand over their keys.

But do you know what, Mr. Speaker? Our government is acting. That’s why we came forward with two asks for the federal government in Ottawa: (1) have minimum sentencing on those people who think it’s okay to steal our cars and (2) step it up at the Port of Montreal and at the rail ports and then the intermodals, where we are not inspecting the containers going outbound the same as they are inspecting them coming inbound. It’s so simple.

The federal government has an opportunity. And do you know what? The NDP across the way can call their friends in Ottawa and say, “We stand for public safety. This is unacceptable.”

So, let’s get this straight. You’re talking about the police. You’re anti-police. Everyone knows the NDP do not support our police; it’s a known fact.

You guys aren’t too bad, but you’ve done nothing over the last 15 years. So that’s why our government is—

We want to make sure that we have scanners at the ports, as the Solicitor General said. Our investment is going towards the creation of a new Bail Compliance and Warrant Apprehension Grant; the expansion of a OPP Repeat Offender Parole Enforcement Squad; the establishment of intensive, serious violent crime bail terms; and teams and a new provincial bail monitoring system to allow police services to monitor high-risk offenders with the most—

My question is for the Associate Minister of Mental Health.

Speaker, with deep concern, I want to draw attention to the city of Toronto’s application to Health Canada to decriminalize drugs for personal use. The drugs we are talking about here, shockingly, include dangerous opioids such as heroin, fentanyl and cocaine.

Speaker, we know we are in the midst of an opioid crisis. The experience in BC and Oregon shows that this approach is a total failure, as the overdose deaths spiked high, as well as the street disorder and public safety concern. My constituents are deeply disturbed that the city is pursuing this action.

Can the minister explain what the government is doing to address this issue?

Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for the response.

The carbon tax is unfair to every Ontarian, including the hard-working men and women who grow high-quality, healthy food for our families. Not only does it hike production costs for farmers, but it punishes those who are already utilizing environmentally responsible practices.

The federal Liberals and their provincial counterparts need to step up and do the right thing: Stop ignoring families, businesses and farmers. Scrap this tax now.

Can the parliamentary assistant please explain how the federal carbon tax is negatively impacting Ontario farmers?

By 30%.

Thank you to the member opposite for that important question.

The Premier, last week, was very clear: We do not support Toronto’s application.

As the member rightly noted, the jurisdictions that have attempted decriminalization both here in Canada and internationally are in full retreat from the policy because it does not work.

I also want to point out that what Toronto requested was even more extreme—I’d say bizarre—than what they had in BC. The medical officer of health’s proposal is to decriminalize the possession of any drug, in any quantity and—are you ready?—for people of any age, and that includes children. This is known as the made-in-Toronto solution. I think it’s more like the made-in-Toronto disaster waiting to happen. It’s a completely reckless plan that would damage public safety, that wouldn’t accomplish anything to help those struggling with addiction, and that is not supported by this government. Mr. Speaker—

I thank the member from Mississauga–Erin Mills for his excellent question.

He spoke about essentials—driving up the cost of essentials. How much crueller can you get than when you’re driving up the cost of essentials? All across the supply chain—our farmers don’t just feed cities; they feed all of us, but the cities should understand it better than anyone. Everything that a farmer puts into those products, when they finally make it to the shelves or make it to your kitchens—those costs have been driven up by the carbon tax.

The Liberals and Bonnie Comrie—Combrie—

Interjection: Crombie.

Interjection.

They’re happy to let people suffer under the burden of that carbon tax, but we in the PC government, under Premier Ford, are not.

Farmers feed cities. Farmers feed us all.

Everything in the supply chain is driven up by the carbon tax. It is time to axe the tax.

Yes, this is all about farmers and the food supply, and what the carbon tax is doing.

On the farm—and I want to thank our Minister of Agriculture and how she continuously supports our farming communities out there—there are not many things that aren’t driven by energy costs, as well.

Last week, we had the TOGA folks here—the Ontario Greenhouse Alliance—and their costs are driven up because of the carbon tax—

For those people out there—they really have to focus on understanding what that tax is doing to the cost of food on their tables. It’s an absolutely wrong-headed way to try to raise revenue—the federal government under Justin Trudeau.

Bonnie Crombie has to stand up—and the NDP. If you want to be recognized properly, stand with us and Premier Ford and be just like we are. Ask them to scrap the tax.

My question is to the Premier.

Car thefts are on the rise, and we are not doing everything we can in the province. Recently, OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique told a House of Commons committee that inspections of vehicles with problematic VINs should be mandatory, but Ontario doesn’t do it. In Ontario, someone can steal a car, register it, and no one checks. This isn’t just a loophole—it’s a drive-through lane for car thieves.

Will this government commit to VIN inspections and actually protect drivers from car theft?

It has been reported that there is no VIN verification in Ontario and there is no system for flagging suspicious registrations for inspection. The integrity of the VIN database is not being protected, and it’s currently being flooded with false records and stolen vehicles.

Can this government—this government, of the province—explain why Ontario does not have a system for VIN verification?

We’re on the ground with our farmers, standing with them.

I have to reflect on the fact that, historically, in early April, 25 commodity and farm organizations joined me in writing a letter to the federal Liberal government, and we made sure our provincial Liberal counterparts were well aware of it as well. With this letter, we provided proof of how the federal carbon tax is crippling the production of food here in Ontario and across Canada. We have all kinds of references.

I have a bill in front of me right now—just earlier this year, before that 23% increase, a farmer was paying $4,666 on his energy bill.

The member from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock—she’s on the ground too. She loves her farmers. She asked specifically, “What are we doing?”

We’ve introduced programs to help farmers cope with the devastating ideology that is crippling and causing the cost of production to go up. It’s Mental Health Week, and I’m so proud that one of the many programs—

Recently—and I’ll never forget it—a Liberal member of Bonnie’s crew stood up with conviction and said that a carbon tax is good for everyone.

I suggest, respectfully, when you look at your markets or you consume fresh produce, you think about that 30% increase in cost of production. It’s time that you start caring. Demonstrate that you understand and will join us to scrap the tax—otherwise, they may just not care.

I want to share with the House an example of caring that came to us from Temiskaming Shores this past week. First responders and OPP officers made sure that a barn fire did not spread to our SPUD unit, saving valuable seed for potatoes, garlic, strawberries and raspberries.

Right now, on behalf of Hillside Farms and all of Ontario, I want to thank first responders, and I want to thank Mr. Aitchison, who ran into a burning barn with six OPP officers from the Temiskaming department to save 130 head of cattle—

Thank you.

Supplementary.

I remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

The next question.

Once again, our approach is very, very clear: It’s treatment, it’s recovery, and it’s prevention. In partnership with the incredible mental health and addictions organizations that are here today, we’re making targeted, data-driven investments to build a recovery-oriented continuum of care.

As a government and as a sector, we are aligned. We’re going to meet people where they are, but we’re not going to let them stay there; we’re going to help them get to where they can be.

We’re opening new treatment beds in communities across the province, including in places like the north, where they were ignored for years and years under previous governments. We’re also standing up new mobile crisis intervention teams like the one that was announced yesterday in Lambton county. And we’re also standing up to do what is correct for the people of the province of Ontario by looking after mental health and addictions and taking the issue seriously.

We will not leave people where they are; we’re going to help them be the best they can be.

My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

I continue to hear from my farmers in Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock that the federal Liberal carbon tax is sending their bills through the barn roof. I have seen on invoices from Midnight Acres farm in Kawartha Lakes and Dave Frew farms in Durham that the carbon tax on their bills is adding $5,000 to $10,000 per month, and that was before the most recent hike of April 1.

We know good things grow in Ontario, and all Ontarians rely on Ontario farmers to produce the food we eat every day.

The federal Liberals need to wake up and realize the detrimental effects that this punishing carbon tax is having on their farm operations.

Can the minister tell us what she has been doing to help make the federal Liberals listen to Ontario farmers?

I know my farmers are frustrated that the federal Liberals won’t listen to them.

A few weeks ago, when the Ontario Federation of Agriculture was here at Queen’s Park, another local farmer from Cavan Monaghan told me that he paid $20,000 in carbon tax in just two months to dry his corn. Again, that was before the carbon tax increased by 23% on April 1.

Farmers want to increase Ontario’s market access, but the carbon tax is reducing their competitive advantage at the global level.

The impact of the federal Liberal carbon tax can be seen whenever you visit a grocery store or a gas station. This tax impacts every level of the supply chain and needlessly takes money out of people’s pockets. Enough is enough. The federal Liberal government needs to scrap the tax now.

Minister, the question is, why will the federal Liberals not listen to you, the Premier and our farmers—and are so oblivious to how it’s creating such hardship on the punishing—

NOSIs are a type of lien against property commonly used today to scam and extort Ontarians across our province, especially our seniors. Earlier this year, the Ontario NDP tabled a bill to ban them and put an end to this abuse. The minister said he agreed with us, but here we are two months later, and we are still waiting while homeowners continue to get scammed.

Will the minister commit today to banning these secretive, harmful liens against homes in Ontario and, if so, tell us when he will make it into law?

There are countless Ontarians with these secretive, harmful liens on their homes, including an elderly couple in my community with a dozen of them totalling more than $100,000.

I recently tabled a motion calling on the government to immediately notify all homeowners who have these liens on their homes, because the people deserve to know.

Will the minister support this important motion?