Thank you to the minister for his response. The reality is the carbon tax does not lower a single emission. It’s a useless tax that just makes it harder on families and businesses. It’s shameful that the federal government continues to force people in the north to pay more for their daily necessities. It’s fine for the Liberal elites in southern Ontario to say, “Just use public transit,” but Speaker, how does somebody in Whitefish Bay, Elizabeth or Emo hop on a subway? The federal Liberals must learn to respect northern communities and finally scrap this punitive tax.

Speaker, can the minister further elaborate on the detrimental effects the carbon tax is having on communities all across northern Ontario?

I just want to thank my constituent Judy Noonan, who brought this petition last week when they came to Queen’s Park for Community Living Day.

The petition notes that social assistance rates in Ontario are far below the rising cost of food and rent: $733 for individuals on OW and $1,308 for those on ODSP. It also notes that the CERB provided $2,000 a month. So the petition calls on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to double social assistance rates for Ontario Works and Ontario disability support payments.

I fully support this petition, will sign it and ask the page to bring it to the table.

This petition is entitled “Let’s Fix the Northern Health Travel Grant.” I will say that there have been improvements to the Northern Health Travel Grant, but there are also some gaps, and these petitions address those gaps.

The mileage fee is still at 41 cents, whereas our mileage fee as MPPs is around 60 cents a kilometre, so I think that needs to be changed. Also, the rates for hotels are far below what it actually costs, so people who are using the Northern Health Travel Grant are still going to be out of pocket.

For that reason, I support this petition and I will give it to Kai.

I may need more than one page for this one.

In April, the residents of Durham were notified that their in-patient beds at Durham hospital would be eliminated, in the wake of their 24/7 emergency department being reduced to essentially bankers’ hours. So they’ve put together this petition that has amassed over 3,700 signatures in less than 48 hours.

It calls for the following things: Number one, it orders the South Bruce Grey Health Centre to stop any and all action against the Durham hospital immediately and reverse their decisions. It asks for them to release any and all business analyses, financial projections and health care staffing data that have been used to justify the changes to the clinical services being provided at Durham hospital. And then, finally, it calls on the government to fully and urgently implement all recommendations from Auditor General of Ontario reports on hospitals in northern Ontario and on emergency departments.

I fully and wholeheartedly agree with and endorse this petition, and I’m thrilled to pass it over to page Soyul.

The lineage of this carbon tax is well documented. It actually predates Justin Trudeau. It was Stéphane Dion who tried to introduce it and Canadians said no. But he couldn’t hold back. When he became Prime Minister, he brought in the carbon tax. So this is all en famille. One of the biggest supporters was Bonnie Crombie, who has now rightly lived up to the appellative term “queen of the carbon tax”—no surprise, from a party that referred to northern Ontario as a wasteland.

I referenced some projects in the previous answer, and the point here is that no government should be in the business of picking and choosing the kinds of energy efficiencies or the sources of heat and hydro in different regions across Canada. The goal here is to scrap the tax, let jurisdictions make good policy decisions on how we can reduce GHG emissions and have more energy efficiency and maintain the assets—

Interjections.

Thank you to the great member from Oakville for his question.

While the federal Liberal government remains fixated on more taxes that punish hard-working Ontarians and businesses, under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is getting it done for businesses and the families and communities that rely on them. Unlike the Liberals, we understand that more taxes and red tape strangle economic growth and job creation.

That’s why we’ve launched meaningful initiatives to reduce costs and cut red tape for entrepreneurs and businesses right across our province. We’ve cut business education tax rates and reduced electricity costs. We’ve reduced WSIB premium rates without reducing benefits. We are directly tackling the payroll expenses that weigh on our job creators.

Speaker, while Bonnie Crombie and the Liberals believe businesses are better off with more taxes, we’re doing all we can to deliver fewer costs and more benefits; it’s time for the Liberals to do the same. Tell Ottawa to scrap the tax now.

Speaker, I couldn’t agree more. It’s tone-deaf for the Ontario Liberals to say that small businesses across Ontario are better off under the federal government’s punitive carbon tax.

The NDP and the Liberals don’t hear when small businesses in their own ridings are being crushed under the weight of higher carbon taxes, but maybe they’ll open their ears after taking two losses back to back in Milton and Lambton–Kent–Middlesex. Those wins are a resounding vote of confidence for our Premier and our government’s plan to continue getting it done for the people of this province.

Ontario’s job creators do not want another tax. They want an affordable entrepreneurial landscape that allows them to invest, grow and create opportunities.

That’s precisely what our government is delivering through our strong economic plan for a stronger province.

But do you know what? It’s not too late. Call the feds. Tell them to scrap the tax now.

My question is for the Associate Minister of Small Business. Small businesses in my riding of Oakville are concerned about the negative impacts of the carbon tax on their operations, and they’re worried, indeed, about their very survival. It’s forcing entrepreneurs to pay increased costs that they cannot afford, especially during these difficult inflationary times. Our small business owners do not support these counterproductive tax measures.

Unlike the NDP and Liberals, our government understands the financial burden that the carbon tax places on businesses. That’s why, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we are reducing costs for families and businesses.

Can the associate minister please explain how our government’s pro-business approach ensures Ontario’s small businesses are saving money despite the burdensome carbon tax?

Unlike the members of the Liberal Party in this Legislature, we here believe that Ontario families and small businesses are not better off with a carbon tax. They’re not better off with increased operating costs, making it harder for them to stay afloat. They’re not better off with increased gas prices, making it harder for consumers to come out and support them. And they’re not better off being forced to pay the most in carbon taxes while they haven’t seen a dollar in promised rebates.

Small businesses are the backbone of our economy here in Ontario. I don’t know why the members of the Liberal Party and Bonnie Crombie do not understand that.

Speaker, through you: Can the associate minister please tell the House how our government is working to offset the negative impacts of the carbon tax on small businesses right here in the province of Ontario?

It gives me great pleasure to welcome people from Durham, including Kris Kennedy as well as Dawn McNab, who are the co-chairs of the Save the Durham Hospital Committee. Thank you for being at Queen’s Park and thank you for fighting to keep Durham hospital open.

MPP Wong-Tam moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 196, An Act respecting the use of correctional facilities and mental health crises / Projet de loi 196, Loi concernant l’utilisation des établissements correctionnels et le traitement des crises de santé mentale.

What happened, Speaker, is that the hospital in charge of the Durham hospital—it’s in charge of four different hospitals—has decided to, first, move all of the in-patient beds out of the hospital. The hospital in Durham used to have 24/7 emergency care; they’re now reduced to 10 hours a day, seven days a week of urgent care. We have seen this before.

The good people of Durham are here today. Many of them are part of a vulnerable population. They are at least 30 kilometres away from the nearest other rural hospital. This hospital has been there for over 100 years, and they want it to continue to be there. They want to have equitable access to our health care system.

We know that medicare consists of hospital services and physician services. Those services are offered to us for free. If the hospital in Durham is no longer there, it will mean longer transportation time to a hospital further away.

The people of Durham want to be able to speak to the Minister of Health, want to be able to speak to the Premier, so that they fully understand that they need to keep their hospital open.

I support this petition, Speaker, will affix my name to it and ask page Sophie to bring it to the Clerk.

We also have a birthday on this side of the House. We would like to congratulate the terrific member for Toronto–St. Paul’s on her birthday today.

I just want to wish the great member from Ajax and my great colleague a very happy birthday.

The ayes are 62; the nays are 35.

Thank you.

Supplementary?

The next question.

I have now three members that want to raise points of order, they have informed me.

Okay. We’ll move on.

Deferred vote on the motion that the question now be put on the motion for third reading of the following bill:

Bill 165, An Act to amend the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 respecting certain Board proceedings and related matters / Projet de loi 165, Loi modifiant la Loi de 1998 sur la Commission de l’énergie de l’Ontario en ce qui concerne certaines instances dont la Commission est saisie et des questions connexes.

The division bells rang from 1142 to 1147.

On May 7, 2024, Mr. Smith, Bay of Quinte, moved third reading of Bill 165, An Act to amend the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 respecting certain Board proceedings and related matters.

On May 14, 2024, Mr. Dowie moved that the question be now put.

All those in favour of Mr. Dowie’s motion will please one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Mr. Smith, Bay of Quinte, has moved third reading of Bill 165, An Act to amend the Ontario Energy Board Act, 1998 respecting certain Board proceedings and related matters. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard some noes.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

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

The division bells rang from 1151 to 1152.

All those in favour of the motion will please rise one at a time and be recognized by the Clerk.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

The House recessed from 1156 to 1500.

First reading agreed to.

This petition is entitled “Bring Back Rent Control.” It’s addressed to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

It notes that the Ford government cancelled rent control on units built after November 2018. And the cost of housing in Ontario, both of renting and buying, has never been higher, and it’s causing many people hardships. There are 50,000 people a year who leave the province of Ontario, largely because they cannot afford housing. People are being forced to leave their communities.

The ask here is for the Legislative Assembly to protect tenants from predatory rent increases and pass the NDP Rent Control for All Tenants Act today to ensure that renters can live in safe and affordable housing.

I fully support this petition. I will pass it to page Diya to take to the table.

I want to welcome Alvin Mason, who is with us this morning. At 90 years young, Alvin is one of the—if not the—eldest Ontarian we know with an active skilled trades licence, starting back in 1958, proudly from the riding of King–Vaughan. Welcome to yourself, as well as your amazing son and your grandson, Perry, who is with us. Thank you for being with us. Welcome to the Legislature.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Erwin Long lived at 73 Cartwright Street in London for five years until a company bought his home. After the sale, he was given two weeks to move out. When he couldn’t find a new home, the landlord changed the locks, boarded up the windows and forced Erwin into homelessness. He slept in a parking lot. Despite the Landlord and Tenant Board ordering the landlord to pay $6,700 for the illegal eviction, Erwin has never been compensated and he’s never been able to return to his home.

Ontario’s eviction laws are weak enough; without enforcement, they are useless. Renters want to know: When will this government begin to enforce its own eviction laws?

Today, Erwin’s home at 73 Cartwright Street has been renovated and listed on Airbnb for $110 per night, plus taxes and fees. I don’t believe—we don’t believe—investors like Erwin’s landlord should be kicking out tenants and converting properties into pricey, short-term rentals. It is contributing to Ontario’s housing shortage and driving up the rate of illegal evictions.

My question is to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: Will this minister crack down on short-term rentals and investment properties, so that these homes can be returned to the long-term rental market?

I’m glad to present this petition to support access to spine care in Ontario. There are many people suffering from complex spinal problems that require spinal surgery, including things like scoliosis, that could be debilitating for people. We have surgeons that have the skill, that have the knowledge to do those surgeries, but they face many barriers. The biggest one is that they cannot get access to our operating rooms in our different hospitals because of how the hospital is compensated: paid by procedure. Surgeries take precedence because they bring more money to our hospitals that are always stretched for dollars.

Some of those people, including children, have been waiting for years to have those surgeries. This is not fair. They deserve equitable access. So I support them in their call for this petition, will affix my name to it and ask Rhys to bring it to the Clerk.

More and more data are showing us that although the government pays for those surgeries, they pay more if it’s done in a private clinic. Plus, many private clinics will have add-ons where people need to pay thousands of dollars to gain access to those surgeries. They also show that other jurisdictions that have introduced private clinics for routine surgery did not decrease the backlog in hospitals—that Ontario hospitals have many operating rooms sitting empty that could do those surgeries if the money was to flow to our hospitals rather than to the private clinics. So they petition the government to make sure that all medically necessary surgeries are allocated exclusively to public hospitals.

I support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask page Charlise to bring it to the Clerk.

The petition is about improving the care for people with amyloidosis. This is a disease that affects many people in Ontario. It is an incurable disease, but there are new treatments that are finally available to help people who suffer with that disease.

They ask for the Legislative Assembly to make sure that Ontario follows suit with other provinces: to make the diagnosis more seamless and make the treatments that are available also available to people who live in Ontario. They would like March to be recognized as an awareness month for amyloidosis, so that more people know about it and receive the treatment that they need.

I support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask my good page Charlise to bring it to the Clerk.

This one is a petition entitled “To Raise Social Assistance Rates.” It points out the Market Basket Measure poverty line and the OW, Ontario Works, rates are far, far apart. The Ontario Works rate is $733 a month, and no one in this province can possibly survive on $733 a month. You cannot even rent a room for $733 a month. ODSP is just over $1,300 a month. Again, you cannot survive on that. And so there’s been an open letter to the Premier and to cabinet ministers, with signatures of 230 organizations that are asking that the OW and ODSP rates be doubled. There have been some small increases, but they do not even keep up with the rate of inflation since this government took power in 2018. In fact, the rate of inflation has been 17% since this government took power and the increase in ODSP rates has been only 5%.

They’re asking for a doubling of this—of basic survival. Basic income set with CERB was $2,000 a month. They’re asking for an immediate doubling of social assistance rates to end the destitution of people living on Ontario Works and ODSP.

I fully endorse this petition and will pass it to page Sophie to take to the table.

I have a petition entitled “Stop Bill 166.” This is legislation, of course, that was passed yesterday in this Legislature, despite the opposition of the official opposition. The reason we opposed that bill is set out in this petition. It’s because it directs anti-racism and mental health work on campuses without the involvement of those who have expertise in this area, at a time when there have been significant cuts to community mental health services and, also, an effective dismantling of the Anti-Racism Directorate.

It also notes that our post-secondary institutions are facing a very serious fiscal crisis, and the inadequacy of the government’s funding for post-secondary education is going to mean cuts to staff who work in mental health and anti-racism services on campus. The petition raises concerns about the political interference in university research and education in Ontario through Bill 166, and notes that the protection of universities from political interference is lauded as a cornerstone of democracy and, therefore, calls on the government to not move ahead with Bill 166.

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

This petition notes that the pressure placed on our education system has led to a dramatic increase in reports of violence in our schools, as well as an increase in the severity of the violent incidents. The petition recommends that classroom sizes be reduced, that additional supports be funded for schools, including mental health resources. It calls for an end to violence against education workers, teachers and EAs and other education staff. It calls for improved workplace reporting and more support staff.

Those are the kinds of measures that would be needed to address violence in our schools. Those are measures I fully support, and I will affix my signature and send the petition to the table with page Harry again.

I have a petition here that speaks about support for access to spine care in Ontario. To summarize it, if you have a complex spinal condition, your access to surgery is hampered simply because of the OHIP fee schedule and the way that the funding formula works for surgeries. So people aren’t getting access to critical care that they need, and it’s causing a lot of suffering.

What they’re asking the government to do is to simply take a look at how they can fund complex spine surgeries in a fair way, compensate surgeons fairly, and ensure that anyone who needs this service gets access to it.

I agree with this petition, and I’m going to give it to page Soyul.