The question really shows why we have two new members in the House here today from the last by-elections, from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex and from Milton: because the NDP and the Liberals are obviously against workers. Our government is supporting workers in a transition after a 97-year monopoly. Let me repeat that: a 97-year monopoly. The people of Ontario want modernization, they want convenience, and they want change. They are supportive of what we are doing.

Clearly, the opposition Liberals and NDP support the status quo, which has been corporate monopolies—97 years. Our government is the first government in the history of Ontario to get it done for the people of Ontario. We ran on this in 2018 and 2022, and the people—

Interjections.

I think everyone is just excited for my question this morning. I’d really like to ask a question to the Premier, but unfortunately, my question is to the Minister of Energy.

The Liberal carbon tax is driving up the cost of food and everyday essentials. It continues to force individuals and families across our province to choose between cooling and eating. Just last week we learned that grocery prices in Ontario have increased by an additional 1.4% compared to last year. At the same time, food bank usage in our province has increased by 38%.

Speaker, the Liberals, under the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie, along with the opposition NDP, persistently ignore the effects this tax has on our food supply chain. They should meet with the grain farmers who are here today and hear about how much this tax costs our farmers.

As the opposition champions the carbon tax, our government will keep costs down for the people of Ontario, and we will not stop until this regressive tax is scrapped. Minister, can you please explain—

Methyl mercury levels are now even higher—two times higher, Speaker. The chief scientist behind the study says that if the mill stopped discharging sulphate into the river, they could have prevented harmful chemicals getting into the river and into the fish.

Children, elders poisoned under this government’s watch. Studies, reviews—that’s all we ever hear from this minister. What immediate steps is this government going to take right now to stop the ongoing mercury poisoning of the people of Grassy Narrows?

Interjections.

People are struggling all across this province to find a family doctor and rural emergency rooms are closing all across the province, but this government, they have very different priorities. On Friday, we learned that the taxpayers of Ontario could be paying half a billion dollars so that this Premier can get out of a contract a year early and sell beer and wine in corner stores.

Now, I want to know, why is this Premier pouring money into the pockets of these big alcohol corporations while our emergency rooms are closing?

Families across this province are wondering if they’re going to be able to keep a roof over their heads. Families are looking for affordable child care. There’s none. They can’t find a family doctor—2.4 million Ontarians without a family doctor, people worried whether there’s going to be an emergency room open when their child is sick. These are the worries that are keeping people in this province up at night.

So, Speaker, I want to go back to the Premier—maybe he’ll actually answer the question for a change. More than half a billion dollars: Does that actually sound like a good deal for the people of this province from this Premier? Give me a break.

Interjections.

First of all, thank you, Mr. Speaker. I know the opposition can’t add numbers—because that’s not the number, but anyway. We had a deal, the worst deal I’ve ever seen in business, what the Liberals signed for 10 years, just giving money away. We’re here to support the workers at the Beer Store. We’re creating 8,500 new stores, thousands and thousands of jobs. The LCBO is going to be the wholesaler. They’re going to bring in a couple of hundred million dollars more.

But guess what, Mr. Speaker? They want to say no. They want to say no on the beer tax increase; they want to say no to more competitive retailing pricing. But I’ll guarantee you one thing. I will guarantee you all these members here—every single person—will be going into their retail store, they’ll be going into the convenience store to buy their wine, to buy their beer, guaranteed, 1,000%—

Interjections.

Supplementary question.

Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks.

Supplementary question.

To reply, the Premier.

The next—

Interjections.

Interjections.

The member for Brampton North will come to order.

The next question.

I appreciate the question from the member from Scarborough–Agincourt. Quite frankly, I’m hearing from farmers and food manufacturers alike that the carbon tax is driving up the cost of production, the cost of food throughout this province, and we need to keep good companies like D&D Poultry in that member’s own riding thriving because Ontario looks for it and deserves it.

I’m hearing from farmers, as well, that it’s becoming an affordability issue, because the carbon tax is affecting them both financially and, quite frankly, emotionally, as well. Jeff Harrison, president of Grain Farmers of Ontario, is in the House today, and he recently has been quoted on record as saying that, reflecting on Liberal ideology about climate change, the Liberals were using a “vilification strategy” to pin the blame for climate change on farmers through exorbitant costs of the carbon tax and threatening to remove tools that farmers need to grow crops.

The Liberals need to stand up and admit they’re doing the wrong thing.

Thank you to the minister for his response. The carbon tax is failing on all fronts, except driving up the cost of basic necessities. The federal Liberals can reduce the cost of food today for children, for seniors and for everyone who is going hungry by eliminating this punitive tax. But unfortunately, it seems they’re all willing to let Ontario suffer under this carbon tax.

The Liberal and NDP members sitting in this House are content to see the carbon tax triple—triple—by 2030. This is unacceptable, and this Premier and our government will continue to fight this punitive tax.

Minister, can you tell this House why the members opposite must come to their senses and join our government in fighting this carbon tax?

Interjection.

Every parent knows that without caring, qualified teachers and education workers, there is no education. Yet this government’s cuts to education funding, their refusal to take action on violence and mental health and their contempt for teachers are driving them out of our schools. There are now 46,000 teachers in Ontario who are certified but choosing not to teach, at a moment when our schools have daily staff shortages.

Why isn’t the Minister of Education doing everything he can to reverse this trend and make sure our kids have the caring teachers they need?

The teacher shortage is connected to the rising levels of violence and the mental health crisis in our schools. One teacher from Waterloo wrote to me: “I’m in a K-6 school. This week so far we’ve had a non-verbal student elope and run off campus, three different students trash three different classrooms, one staff member get assaulted by a student, and two class evacuations. And it’s only Wednesday.”

These aren’t just teachers’ working conditions, Speaker; they are students’ learning conditions. So where is the serious plan to tackle violence in schools?

Interjections.

Thank you.

Minister of Energy.

The supplementary question?

Minister of Energy.

I’ll remind the House to refer to other members by either their riding name or their ministerial responsibility, as applicable.

The next question.

Minister of Education.

The next question.

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Our government, in 2017-18, came in with a mandate to increase mental health funding, because the former Liberals underfunded this area, investing roughly $16 million to $18 million per year. Under our Premier’s leadership, we’re investing over $110 million, over a 550% net increase in funding, a commitment to invest.

We also announced a plan to mandate mental health within the curriculum, to reduce the behavioural challenges we’re seeing, but also to strengthen the resilience of young people. We were the first province in Canada to mandate it in every single grade. And then, under the leadership of the member from Burlington, we codified a tool kit developed with School Mental Health Ontario and the Hospital for Sick Children.

Mr. Speaker, if we want to deal with violence, then we need to unite people around our shared values, not subdivide them, as many members of the illiberal opposition would want us to do.

We need to stand up for shared values in Canada. We have to make sure young people know that through mental health and upstream investments we can prevent the distractions in class and keep every single child safe in our system.

I know the Leader of the Opposition can’t bring herself to accept matters of fact as confirmed by school boards in the province of Ontario, but if she is so committed to mental health, then why have you voted against each and every single mental health worker, psychologist, psychotherapist, social worker we’ve hired?

I know the inconvenient truth of the NDP: They voted against budgets. They voted against curriculum. They even voted against a tool kit developed by SickKids Ontario.

But, Mr. Speaker, we brought forth a plan to actually go after the issue of distractions in schools by eliminating vaping and—

Interjections.

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

Ontario’s farmers pride themselves on being great stewards of the land and the environment. But the federal Liberals refuse to take that into account when they saddle farmers with huge carbon tax bills. Not only does the carbon tax add financial stress by increasing input costs for farmers, but it shows great disrespect for the work farmers do and the investments they make to keep their operations as sustainable as possible.

The federal Liberals need to finally listen to what we have been saying since day one and get rid of the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please tell this House what she is hearing from farmers about how the federal Liberals’ attacks are impacting them, both financially—

The supplementary question.

The next question.

The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

The next question.

The Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.

The Minister of Health.

That is a very important question, and it is something that our government is taking very seriously.

As you know, with $525 million being invested through the Roadmap to Wellness, we’re ensuring that we’re addressing mental health issues in every segment of the community, in every segment of the population, and ensuring that first responders are getting the help that they need regardless of where they are in the province.

One of the biggest investments made by this government is the centre of excellence that’s in the process of being built for first responders. It will act as a hub-and-spoke model to ensure that supports are provided to first responders, no matter where they are in the province, at the best and highest level possible.

In addition to that, our government is making investments in mobile crisis intervention teams to be able to provide additional supports to the people who are in greatest need, but working with the first responders—not just police officers, but with paramedics as well.

So as we build the system—the system that was for the longest time left unserved—we’re making the differences in building a system that’s going to be the best it can be for everyone in the province, including our—

I appreciate the question from the member from Kiiwetinoong. Last summer, I travelled up to Lac Seul First Nation in the member’s riding, and I saw first-hand exactly how important it is to have public safety in communities like Lac Seul. I want to give a special mention to Chief Bruno Rossi, who works hard every day to keep that community safe.

Mr. Speaker, the welfare of every person living safely in their communities, regardless of whether it’s in southern Ontario or northern Ontario or in First Nations communities, is equally important. Everyone keeping Ontario safe deserves to be safe themselves. Just in a couple of weeks, I will be at the Ontario Police College, where we welcome almost 500 new cadets to keep Ontario safe, including people serving our First Nations communities.

First responders, including police officers, across the north often work alone. They are the first ones who see accidents and tragedies when they happen, but they are not given the tools they need to process the traumatic events.

Speaker, will this government commit to increasing the mental health supports available to police and other first responders such as paramedics and firefighters serving in far northern Ontario?

Again, first responders in the north work with far fewer services than urban responders in urban areas. Even services like mental health services are extremely limited. Front-line responders like Jerry Moskotaywenene and Jack McKay have told us they aren’t getting the support they need when they’re experiencing vicarious trauma.

How does this government plan to ensure the complex mental health needs of police and front-line responders in the north are met?

Interjections.

We’re doing a lot to support our farmers, because, quite frankly, Jeff Harrison also went on to say, “It’s part of the added stress”—“it” being the carbon tax—“on farmers that they are expected to do the unachievable.”

But really and truly, farmers are part of the solution, Speaker. Through their crop rotations, cover crops and the embracing of best practices, grain farmers of Ontario are actually shipping almost 30% of all grains grown right here in Ontario around the world to 50 different countries. That matters. Then, there’s another significant percentage of their production that goes into baked goods right here in Ontario, which adds to jobs and again goes around the world in terms of satisfying demand for good produced food right here from Ontario.

But you know what, Speaker? The carbon tax alone is going to cause grain farmers of Ontario to pay—get this—almost $200 million in carbon tax alone this year. That’s why we’re introducing programs that understand the issue and—

Thank you to the minister for the response. It is disturbing to hear how the Liberal carbon tax is not only driving up the cost of business for Ontario’s farmers but causing them personal stress as well.

Speaker, unlike our government’s continued support of our agriculture and food industry, the opposition NDP and independent Liberals would rather support this costly and regressive tax. They are saying no to economic growth and prosperity and saying no to supporting farmers and Ontario businesses. That’s shameful. Ontarians have had enough. Scrap the tax.

Speaker, can the minister tell the House what our government is doing to help agriculture and food businesses compete in a global market despite the federal carbon tax?

My question is for the Premier. Mr. Speaker, $1 billion of taxpayer money is currently on its way to the Premier’s wealthy, well-connected friends at the Beer Store and LCBO. This isn’t about convenience. This is about favouring insiders, furthering political agendas and justifying an early election.

Meanwhile, due to this government’s historic underfunding and stunning incompetence, the township of Durham has the latest rural hospital to find itself on the chopping block. This is the same playbook that shuttered Minden hospital’s emergency department and which now threatens the collapse of Bracebridge’s hospital.

First, the Premier and Minister of Health neglect the needs of rural and northern hospitals. And staffing is foremost amongst those needs. Yet, the Premier and Minister of Health have deliberately chosen to underpay health care workers, drag them through court, let temporary staffing agencies run wild, and ignore the issues of burnout, mental health and workplace safety.

When hospitals like the one in Durham no longer have enough staff to function, what does this government do? They give a billion dollars to the Beer Store and LCBO. That was easy.

Mr. Speaker, why is the Premier paying off big beer rather than doing anything to—

At a time when more health care workers are leaving the profession than ever before, this government is telling us that things have never been better. The amount of people without a family doctor has increased by more than 800,000 since this government took office, and they want to talk about beer.

That doesn’t cut it for patients in Durham whose emergency department now operates on banker’s hours, who will have to be driven out of their community, often in dangerous winter conditions and away from loved ones, just to get a hospital bed. Soon, diagnostic services will dry up, and doctors are already leaving.

But it doesn’t end there. Developers were planning two residential communities in Durham that would have totalled 500 homes. When news broke out that the community could soon be without a hospital, those developers pulled out. The Minister of Health’s failures are now turning into the Minister of Housing’s failures.

Mr. Speaker, how does the Premier expect to meet his housing targets if he can’t even ensure that health care needs are met in every community across Ontario?

Interjections.

I’m not sure if the member opposite was around for the budget, where we actually increased hospitals’ annual operating by an average of 4%—we’ve done that for two years running.

We have, in February, seen a historic investment in primary care expansion—78 new primary care or expanded opportunities for people to be connected to primary care physicians and clinicians in their community.

We are already seeing those investments making a difference in the lives of people who want to be connected.

I would encourage the member opposite to actually sit down with some of these hospital CEOs and leadership and find out what and how our government investments are making a difference on the ground—