My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, employing millions of workers across various sectors. I am proud to be a part of a government that has the backs of business owners and stands to support them every step of the way.

But, Speaker, many of our small businesses, including in my riding of Newmarket–Aurora, are facing significant uncertainty and cost pressures due to the impact of the Liberal carbon tax. The recent federal budget only fanned the flames by adding even more taxes to Ontario’s entrepreneurs, and that’s not right.

Speaker, through you, can the associate minister please tell the House what small business owners across Ontario have to say about the costly Liberal carbon tax?

Thank you to the great member from Newmarket–Aurora for the question. Speaker, I’ve taken part in round tables with entrepreneurs and small business owners across this province, and I can say with certainty that the concerns they’ve expressed about the federal carbon tax are deeply troubling. It’s disappointing to see that the recent federal budget did not take meaningful action to address all of these concerns. Instead, the Liberals have added additional taxes, which only compounded the challenges these small businesses are facing. I’ve heard time and time again that small business owners feel abandoned by the federal government and the Ontario Liberals and NDP, who have refused to stand up for them to their friends in Ottawa.

Speaker, I know Bonnie Crombie and the Liberals have never seen a tax hike they didn’t like, but we’re not standing down. It’s time for Ottawa to scrap the tax.

It’s my pleasure to talk briefly about a petition that I have regarding protecting farmland and sustainable growth in Waterloo region. We do know that the province of Ontario is losing 319 acres every day.

What is happening in Wilmot is that 770 acres of prime farmland are proposed to be expropriated for a large mega-industrial project. There has been no—made public any environmental assessments. No politician at any level is giving any answers or any transparency, in a democracy. This is clearly an early notice that Bill 185 is on the books and boundaries don’t mean anything anymore.

I fully support the petition and call on the Waterloo region and the provincial government to pause this irresponsible and unsustainable use of prime farmland.

Thank you again to the member for her question. The recent federal budget was terrible for entrepreneurs, with measures like increased taxes drawing harsh criticism from groups like the Council of Canadian Innovators.

Our job creators tell me these tax hikes will “stifle growth” and “demotivate Canadians from getting into business in the first place.” They’re telling me that they’re grateful that our government is pushing back against these job-killing measures and supporting our province’s job creators. But with gas prices, interest rates, fuel costs and energy rates going up because of the carbon tax, they’re having to make tough decisions when looking to start a business.

So, Speaker, you can thank the Liberals the next time a young, bright mind has a groundbreaking idea, a solid business plan and support from our province, but then decides it’s too expensive to get their business off the ground. Still, this Premier and our government will continue to stand—

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. The carbon tax is exacerbating financial strain for all Ontarians. Communities across northern Ontario continue to face heightened economic challenges, notably at the gas pumps as a result of this punitive tax. The cost of transporting goods is already much higher in northern Ontario and these costs are being passed on to the consumer.

But, Speaker, the federal Liberals are not listening. In fact, they just increased the carbon tax last month by 23%, with plans to hike the tax an additional six times by 2030. That’s simply unacceptable.

Speaker, could the minister provide further details about how the carbon tax adversely impacts residents in northern Ontario?

The carbon tax royal love story keeps getting more and more complicated, and frankly, the king of the carbon tax Prime Minister Trudeau needs to rein it in. Now, we know he’s got the support of the queen of the carbon tax over there and Jagmeet Singh continues to vacillate, but there’s a new player, Mr. Speaker: Prince Carney, otherwise known as Mark Carney, has decided that this tax has run its course. Now, I suspect that that lines up perfectly with how Canadians feel about the tax and his prospect of replacing the Prime Minister.

Mr. Speaker, simply put, we have a more irenic solution, and that is to scrap the tax.

The ayes are 34; the nays are 71.

I just wanted to correct the record: Earlier today, in question period, I used the number 2.2 million Ontarians that don’t have a family physician. The number is actually 2.3 million.

I have a petition that calls upon this Legislature to stop Bill 166. The petition notes that this government has made significant cuts to community mental health services and has also effectively dismantled the Anti-Racism Directorate, so this increases the pressure on our post-secondary institutions to provide student mental health services and to effectively tackle racism and hate on campus.

However, at the same time, the government has underfunded post-secondary education to such an extent that the mental health services are being limited and the anti-racism work is difficult to undertake because there are so few staff.

Bill 166 opens the door to unprecedented political interference in our colleges and universities in this province. The protection of universities from political interference is highly regarded as a cornerstone of a democratic society, which is why the petitioners, who include many, many faculty, staff and students from Western University as well as members of the community, are calling on the government to stop Bill 166, to use the powers of the Anti-Racism Act to enable the anti-racism work that critically needs to happen in this province, and to restore funding to post-secondary institutions so that they can provide student mental health services and support from equity offices.

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature and send it to the table with page Raisa.

It’s my great pleasure to be able to present this petition titled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates” to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. I want to thank Sally Palmer for getting these names collected from the residents of Grimsby.

In summary of the petition: It’s basically about, the rates for Ontario Works have been frozen since 2018, and a small increase to the Ontario Disability Support Program—have left recipients struggling well, well below the poverty line.

We on this side of the House advocate for doubling the rates of OW and ODSP—as well as the individuals who are on this petition. There was an open letter, also, to the Premier and two cabinet ministers, with signatures—over 230 organizations that recommend that social assistance rates be doubled, both with OW and ODSP.

I cannot think of a better petition to affix my name to, and I’m going to be sending it down to the table with Glynnis.

The question raises the important role of both Tarion, which provides deposit protection for new homebuyers of freehold homes, and, of course, the other administrative agency, which our government created in its first term, after inheriting a broken administrative authority system for new homebuyers from the Liberal government, supported by the NDP.

With the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, we can regulate home builders. We can weed out the bad actors. We can protect consumers. The combination of the two administrative authorities demonstrates that the system definitely works. It’s about consumer protection specifically for those freehold homebuyers, making sure their deposits are protected and the bad actors are put out of business.

It was this government that acted, that stopped the sponsored industry dinners. It was this government that created HCRA, the Home Construction Regulatory Authority, and it was this government that limited Tarion’s board to incorporate no more than a third of developers. We’re getting it done for the people and consumers of Ontario, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. McCarthy moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 194, An Act to enact the Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act, 2024 and to make amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act respecting privacy protection measures / Projet de loi 194, Loi édictant la Loi de 2024 visant à renforcer la sécurité et la confiance en matière de numérique et modifiant la Loi sur l’accès à l’information et la protection de la vie privée en ce qui concerne les mesures de protection de la vie privée.

The act would also enact the Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act, 2024, to establish new regulation-making authorities to set requirements for cyber security, artificial intelligence, and children’s data protections for applicable public sector institutions.

The act would also provide the ability for the minister to issue directives for cyber security and children’s data protections to applicable public sector institutions.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to thank my deputy minister and her team, and my chief of staff, Michelle Stock, and her team.

It’s been six years now since my constituents paid deposits to Greatwise Developments for new homes, and construction has still not started. A year ago, I raised this issue in the House and the government responded that they were putting bad developers on notice, making them think twice before taking advantage of homebuyers. And yet, while homes are going up all over Ottawa right now, this developer hasn’t even prepared the land to start construction.

Why is the Premier allowing a bad developer to hold homebuyers hostage with no consequences at all?

When will we finally see real action, not just words, from this government to hold bad developers accountable, so families like my constituents finally get a home in Ontario?

I’d also like to say hello and welcome to folks from AEFO, ETFO, the trustee organizations and the Toronto Schools Caregiver Coalition who are joining us online this afternoon to watch the debate on education.

I do, yes; Speaker, thank you.

Pursuant to standing order 7(e), I wish to inform the House that tonight’s evening meeting is cancelled.

Supplementary question.

The next question.

Call in the members. This is a five-minute bell.

The division bells rang from 1147 to 1152.

Mr. Gates has moved private member’s notice of motion number 94.

All those in favour, please rise and remain standing until recognized by the Clerk.

Motion negatived.

The member for Ottawa South.

Mr. John Fraser: Point of order, Speaker: In keeping with beating my head against the wall, I seek unanimous consent that, notwithstanding standing order 45(b)(iv), the time for debate on opposition day motion number 5 be apportioned as followed: 56 minutes to each of the recognized parties and eight minutes to the independent members as a group.

There being no further business at this time, this House stands in recess until 1 p.m.

The House recessed from 1158 to 1300.

First reading agreed to.

Thank you to the associate minister for her response. I know that people in my riding appreciate our government’s continued advocacy for Ontario’s small business owners. Now more than ever, entrepreneurs and innovators are looking to governments to help them, not hinder them, as they continue driving innovation, job creation and economic growth. But it seems like the federal Liberals are copying the high-tax environment which saw their provincial counterparts wiped out from party status in 2018.

Speaker, through you, can the associate minister explain why the federal carbon tax is hurting entrepreneurs’ and innovators’ ability to start, grow and invest in their businesses?

This petition is titled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates.”

I want to start off by thanking Dr. Sally Palmer, who has been ongoingly sending us petitions to help advocate for people who are on ODSPoverty and OW here in Ontario.

As we know in this Legislature, we are dealing with an affordability crisis.

I can tell you that in St. Paul’s, there are several community members of mine—Cinco and his new wife, Liz, just got married in my community, and they are also folks who depend on ODSP and OW, and they are significantly struggling.

This petition is essentially calling for the government to help people get out of poverty—and that’s what ODSP and OW rates currently are. They are calling for ODSP and OW to be at least doubled, and I stress the “at least” part, because even doubling ODSP can barely get you a one-bedroom with a window in St. Paul’s.

I’m certainly proud to affix my signature on this petition calling for a doubling, at least, of ODSP, OW, so folks can get by—and not just get by, but maybe one day even thrive. And that should include people with disabilities here in Ontario.

I have a petition here called “Rent Stabilization Now.” This petition is calling on the Ontario government to establish strong rent control on all tenancies—including those first occupied after 2018—as well as vacancy control so there’s a cap on how much the rent can be raised between tenancies.

The purpose of vacancy control and strong rent control is to stabilize rent and reduce the incidence of eviction, which is unfortunately on the increase in Ontario.

I support this petition. I’ll be giving it to page Aaldrian.

MPP Stiles has moved opposition day number 5.

I recognize the Leader of the Opposition to lead off the debate.

I want to move the following motion:

Whereas the government has cut education funding by $1,500 per child since 2018; and

Whereas this underfunding is preventing our children from getting the learning and mental health supports they need; and

Whereas this results in a challenging and unsafe learning environment; and

Whereas this has a disproportionate impact on our most vulnerable students; and

Whereas the burden is falling to parents to find and pay for the supplemental mental health and education supports that their children need;

Therefore, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should substantially increase funding for public education in Ontario so that every child receives the high-quality education they deserve, regardless of their family’s income.

It’s also my belief that one of the features that distinguishes Canada is its quality public services, like education and health care. We are considered leaders in the world because of these public services—or we have been. As Ontarians, we’ve been proud that your ability to get the care that you need was never dependent on the size of your wallet or that your children could get one of the best educations in the world no matter what your parents earned. But today, under this government, things are not okay. This government wants Ontario students to settle for basic when our kids deserve so much better than that.

Today, I want to start by setting the record straight on how the Conservatives are really treating education in the province of Ontario. Because in spite of this government’s claim of historic spending in education, the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association has said this year’s funding is the lowest level of per-student funding in more than a decade.

The Minister of Education and the Premier have not, as they like to claim, increased funding for education. It’s simple. In fact, education funding has decreased every single year since they have been in government. In fact, education funding is down by $1,500 per child since 2018. In fact, since 2018, this government has also cut at least 5,000 classroom educators. In fact, the only thing that’s historic about these funding levels is this Minister of Education’s crusade to underfund our schools and send more families into private education. That’s the truth of the matter: replacing our public education with a system where, yes, you, the people of Ontario, the parents, have to pay.

School boards are getting less money year over year. That’s a fact. This government simply doesn’t want to acknowledge all the struggles that our kids, that parents, that teachers, that other staff are dealing with. Well, here’s the reality: Extreme teacher shortages across all the schools in this province; 24% of elementary schools and 35% of secondary schools are reporting teaching staff shortages every single day. There are students who require additional supports that are being sent home from school, because there are not enough staff available to help them.

Every single day, parents are having to find and pay out of pocket for the supplemental mental health and educational supports that their children need. These were things we used to actually be able to count on our schools to provide. More kids today are experiencing depression and anxiety than ever before—ever before. Big school boards; small, rural district school boards: They’re all facing deficits. They’re all looking at having to make cuts—cuts to schools in rural areas, cuts to schools in big cities, everywhere in between.

This government is denying equal learning opportunities for kids everywhere—fact. Cuts are also affecting children’s safety. Violence in schools is on the rise. But the Minister of Education’s student safety allocation is only 14 cents per child per school day. Structural deficits created by this government are forcing everyone—boards, teachers, parents—to make difficult decisions that are going to impact their children, their learning and—you know what?—Ontario at large.

Members opposite like to stand up here every day blaming this and that on the carbon tax. Can they stand up there today and say the carbon tax is why Ontario’s education system is crumbling? Let’s see; we’ll find out. I think it’ll be a bit of a reach, but you never know.

The thing is that when this government says that the education budget for the 2024-25 school year is Ontario’s largest ever—and you’re going to hear them say that in a few minutes, I suspect; they’re going to say it over and over again—they’re not taking into consideration inflation and the role that it plays in budgets. Members on this side will recall that this morning, I laid that out for the government, for the minister. A budget that ignores inflation is a budget that ignores reality.

A computer costs more today than it did a year ago. That’s a shortfall. People know this. We are living it: a $1,500 shortfall for each and every student in this province. When this government says their funding is the largest ever, we only need to read between the lines to see what the numbers are really saying. What they’re saying is that kids and schools are being shortchanged.

The government, I will say, wants us to focus on vaping and cellphones. You know, I’m a parent. We care about these things—we sure do—but they are underestimating parents in Ontario when they think that they don’t know that without investing in the qualified and caring professionals that students need in schools and in classrooms, cellphones will still be there, vaping will still happen and students’ mental health and their well-being will be at greater risk than ever before.

Parents know what’s happening, because along with all those mounting grocery bills and the rising cost of things that this government could actually do something about—the cost of school supplies, the cost of clothing, the cost of food, the cost of everything—now they have to decide, “Do I turn to a private tutor? How do I find support for my child who is struggling so hard with math and with reading in bigger and bigger classrooms with fewer and fewer supports?”

Speaker, yesterday was Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day, belatedly, to all of those and to all the mother figures in our lives. Yesterday, I was thinking a lot myself about the joys of motherhood. I’m the mother of two daughters, now grown. But I was also thinking about the struggles. It’s not easy. It’s complicated being a parent.

I was thinking about all the supports we depend upon, like the nurses who, I will say, held my hand when I was struggling as a new mom; the early childhood educators who—as working parents, my partner and I had to leave our little ones every day, from the time they were less than a year old, at daycare. Every day, it was the trust you put in those people, how much you depend on them and how little they are actually rewarded for that work in our society, everyone who supported my kids.

It is why I ran to be a school board trustee in 2014. I really wanted to make sure that our schools would be stronger. Many of my colleagues have also been school board trustees or educators themselves. I wanted to make sure they were better. I’ve got to tell you, under the previous government, under the Liberals, it wasn’t so great either. Our schools were pretty lean.

As a working parent, you have to put so much trust in those caring adults who you leave your children with. You drop them off when they’re little, in junior kindergarten, and you hope that Mr. Evans is going to make her day great. You say, “If she falls, he’s going to pick her up. If she’s struggling, somebody is going to be there to help her.”

But as they get older, things get even more complicated. Sometimes, as a parent, it can feel like you’re just shouting into a black hole. So I ran because I wanted to ensure that other people, other parents, people who maybe had fewer resources than I did, maybe had more challenges and more obstacles, would have that strong system that they could depend on, that bedrock beneath them. But today, that’s not how it is in Ontario; it’s worse, and it’s getting worse and worse. For families that can’t afford private mental health services, their children simply go without those supports that should be guaranteed in our schools, Speaker. That is the reality.

Some may also recall that I was the education critic for a while for our party, and I have to say that in regular meetings that I have had for years with school board trustees—and I think this is the same for all of my colleagues here. We meet regularly with school board trustees and teachers and staff and parents—man, do we hear from parents—the frustration, the disappointment: “How can I help my child?” “Why can’t somebody help me help my child?” They are so disappointed at this government’s absolutely outrageous claims, and yes, their cuts.

I’ve said this before: All this government has to do is talk to one parent in this province and you will know that the status quo is not working in this province. It is not working. It is not working for our kids in overcrowded classrooms. It is not working for our under-resourced teachers. All that that minister has to do is talk to real people out there in the real world before they pass a budget that doesn’t meet the needs of our kids or educators.

I ask you, Speaker, as I conclude, how much more support are our kids supposed to give up on? Is it the kids who are losing their math and English help in greater Essex; or in Peel, where they’re losing their specialized communications classes, their literacy coaches; in Hamilton, where those children are losing breakfast programs? Shameful.

These are not add-ons. These are not extras. These are essential. Our children deserve better than basics. They deserve everything we can give them, no matter how much their families earn, no matter what their parents do. That is the foundation; it is the bedrock of our democracy, of our country and of our province.

Today’s kids—they say this all the time, Speaker—they are tomorrow’s future. If we deny them the good-quality education and services today, we are going to pay for it down the road.

So I ask this government, what do you have against good-quality education? Will you make our children a priority? Will you support this motion?