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—

The supplementary question?

The next question.

The supplementary question.

Well, not to put words in the mouth of the Premier, but the Premier would say, “No tax. For you, we are not going to be increasing taxes, and that includes a carbon tax.”

Our plan does not include a carbon tax. Our plan is called Powering Ontario’s Growth, and it builds on the strengths of our province’s energy sector. That includes refurbishing the clean, reliable, affordable power that comes from our nuclear plants at places like Bruce and at Darlington and at Pickering; building new nuclear technology, world-leading small modular reactors that are under way now at Darlington; as well, ensuring that we have clean hydroelectric power that’s affordable for the people by refurbishing the big dams and the small dams that we have across our province in places like Niagara Falls, in places like Cornwall, in places like northern Ontario, all across our province; and ensuring that we have just finished the biggest procurement of battery storage in Canada’s history.

Our grain farmers are here. They’ve talked about the impact that it’s having on grains that they produce for our baked goods and our spirits and all kinds of great stuff in our province, and it’s having an impact at the grocery stores.

But the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, and her Liberal caucus and the NDP and the Green Party as well, they’re all in support of an ever-increasing carbon tax every April 1. We’re not. We’re saying no to the carbon tax, first of all because it’s not working, and second of all because it’s driving up costs and making life more unaffordable for the people of Ontario.

We have a plan. It’s working. It’s called Powering Ontario’s Growth, bringing record multi-billion-dollar investment—

The member opposite from the Green Party wants to put wind turbines and solar panels all over the place. Let’s just look outside today. It’s raining cats and dogs out there, Mr. Speaker. We are getting 100 megawatts of solar today, and we’re getting about 1,300 megawatts of wind, of 5,000 megawatts of installed capacity. Can you imagine, under their plan, how many wind turbines and solar panels they would need that still wouldn’t be working today?

That’s why we’re investing in our nuclear power plants, emissions-free. We are getting almost 60% of our electricity from there today, and our hydroelectric facilities—

Interjections.

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Energy. As the cost of living continues to rise, Ontarians cannot afford the costly federal carbon tax. But the federal Liberals do not care, and neither do the Ontario Liberals, under the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie. They will push for more hikes until this tax gets tripled and even though Ontarians are paying the price for their unfair tax grabs.

Unlike the Liberals, our government understands the importance of building our clean energy advantage while keeping costs down for the hard-working people of this province.

Speaker, can the minister explain how our government is bringing Ontarians clean, affordable and reliable energy without introducing a carbon tax?

Rather than providing energy solutions, the federal Liberals have deliberately chosen not only to leave the carbon tax in place but to increase it even more despite the financial struggles Ontarians are experiencing. Ontarians deserve relief, not taxes. The simplest, fairest thing to do is to scrap the carbon tax for everyone, everywhere, for good.

Speaker, can the minister please tell this House why the people of this province cannot afford the punitive Liberal carbon tax?

My question is for the Premier. Extreme heat is already here. Fire season started early. Toxic air from fires last year cost our health care system $1.3 billion. Climate-fuelled extreme weather caused insurable losses of $3.1 billion last year alone. The cost of climate is rising rapidly, and Ontario has gone from first to worst when it comes to climate pollution. In fact, 60% of the increase in climate pollution in Canada came from Ontario, yet the Auditor General says this government has no plan.

Speaker, the people of Ontario want a credible climate plan. All I’m asking for today is a date: a date of when the government will deliver a credible climate plan to meet Ontario’s emission targets.

Let’s get to the facts. Here are the facts, Speaker: When this government came into office, our grid was 96% clean. Now it’s down to 87% clean. And under their plan, climate pollution in the electricity sector will rise 300% this decade and 700% in the next two decades, undermining all the progress we made closing coal plants. The government has no plan, and the plan that the minister just talked about is actually going to make climate pollution go up, at a time when we have tornado warnings in Ottawa, right now, today.

The cost of the climate crisis is going up and emissions are going up under this government. The people of Ontario have a simple question they want an answer to: When will the government bring forward a credible plan to meet Ontario’s emission targets?

Interjection.

Mr. Speaker, I just find it so ironic coming from that member that wants to defund the police, that marched in the parades to defund the police. If it was up to that member, you could break into a house, you could put a gun to someone’s head, you could steal something out from the store. She doesn’t believe they should even be in court. Everyone should get off, according to you—everyone. Give them a second chance after breaking into a home, terrorizing neighbourhoods. She doesn’t worry about the courts. She hates the police.

You know something? It’s just a bunch of you-know-what. I’ll leave it at that.

Thank you for the question. It gives me a chance to highlight some of the amazing things that we’re doing as a government, and things that only this government is prepared to do. At a time when the opposition is calling to defund the police, Mr. Speaker, we are supporting our front-line officers. We’re making sure that the justice system has the tools that it needs to work the way that Ontarians would expect. We are investing new money—millions of dollars, Mr. Speaker—in new systems, in staffing. In all areas of the justice system, we are getting the job done.

We’ve seen this type of act before in this Legislature. What the member of the Green Party is supporting is the Green Energy Act, which drove hundreds of thousands of jobs out of our province. And do you know what? It hasn’t just been Ontario’s experience. We’ve seen what’s happening in places like Germany. We’ve seen what’s happening in California, where they’ve gone down these roads. They don’t have power for the growth that we are experiencing in our province. We are guaranteeing that we will have the growth.

Now, the member talks about the fact that our emissions are going up. Do you know what? We are refurbishing our nuclear facilities right now. We have four reactors that are down. When they come back, we’re going to have more than enough power, as we continue to see investment in our province. We are also building out non-emitting resources, right across our province, because we’re putting the storage in place—something that the Liberals didn’t know enough to do. And we’re continuing to build out our hydroelectric fleets in places like Niagara Falls, in Cornwall, in Kakabeka Falls—

The great member from Scarborough Centre is absolutely right about the harmful impacts the carbon tax is having on our province’s small businesses. The tax is not only driving up fuel costs for transportation and deliveries, but it’s also increasing prices across the board for energy and goods and services that these entrepreneurs rely upon. Think of a family business in Milton, started by immigrants who came to this country seeking more opportunities for their families. Instead, thanks to the Liberals, their dream of entrepreneurship is now struggling under the weight of these surging operating expenses, brought on by the federal carbon tax.

Speaker, these businesses see Ontario’s PC government, led by Premier Ford, providing relief by cutting gas taxes and the small business corporate income tax rate. The choice was clear to Milton and Lambton–Kent–Middlesex entrepreneurs, because only our party—

Entrepreneurs in Milton, Lambton–Kent–Middlesex and right across Ontario all agree they want a government that fights for businesses, not against them.

Costly Crombie and her federal Liberals are piling on more costs through the carbon tax, but under this Premier, we—

This gives me a wonderful opportunity to talk about the scope-of-practice changes that we have started with nurses, with nurse practitioners and, of course, with pharmacists. Do you know, Speaker, that since we made changes to primary care allowing access for minor ailments in pharmacies, we’ve had over 700,000 Ontarians access that service? Minor ailments, where you don’t have to take a day off work, where you don’t have to go to the emergency department, you don’t have to book an appointment and take time off work—those are the changes that we are making through policy, through scope-of-practice changes that are truly making a difference in accessing primary care and accessing treatment in the province of Ontario.

Well, under Premier Ford, we have a very different approach. We are going to absolutely continue to work with our regulatory colleges to expand scope of practice, whether it’s for midwives—which we’ve done in the last number of months, and people are already seeing impacts when they have that young baby and they want to get their midwife to have the access. We will continue working with our colleges to make sure expanded scope of practice is absolutely one of the improvements that we are making in the province of Ontario.

And again I will say, 19 minor ailments—in just over a year and a half, and we have seen 700,000 Ontarians access that service. That’s the kind of improvements we will continue to make with our health care—

Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

Since the government introduced new sources of profit for pharmacies, pharmacists at Loblaws and Shoppers Drug Mart are being directed by their corporations to perform unnecessary MedsCheck to drive profit up and up.

What has the government done to ensure that corporations like Loblaws, and Galen Weston are not abusing our publicly funded health care system?

Things are so bad that the Ontario College of Pharmacists did a survey. The survey said Shoppers and Loblaws drugstores are the two workplaces where most of the pressure happens. Pharmacists are being pressured to do more MedsCheck, cold-call MedsCheck, dispense naloxone, verification therapeutic checks. They’re pressured to do more ailment assessments but do them within a time limit. All of this generates more profit. All of this is against the position statement issued by the College of Pharmacists, putting pharmacists’ licences at risk, as well as patient care.

Is the government happy that Shoppers and Loblaws are raking in more profit at the taxpayers’ expense?

My question is for the Solicitor General. From groceries to gas, the Liberal carbon tax is making life more expensive for everyone in our province. People in my riding of Newmarket–Aurora have told me that they are concerned about the impact that this tax is having on our public safety system. They want to make sure that our first responders in Ontario have the tools and resources that they need to keep our communities safe.

Speaker, under Premier Ford’s leadership, our government is fighting back against crime and building safer communities, but we need all governments to do their part. The federal Liberals and their provincial counterparts need to listen to what we have been saying since day one, and that is, scrap this tax.

Speaker, can the Solicitor General tell the House how the carbon tax is negatively affecting Ontario’s—

Once again, the member for Nepean, come to order.

The Minister of Energy.

The next question.

Supplementary question.

The next question.

The next question.

My question is for the great Associate Minister of Small Business. The federal government’s carbon tax continues to make life more expensive for Ontarians. Small business owners across our province cannot afford the high prices of essential goods and services driven by this punitive tax. Unfortunately, the NDP and the Liberal members in the Legislature are ignoring the devastating impact of the carbon tax on our job creators. Their silence is a shocking endorsement of higher prices and more tax.

Unlike the opposition, our government is taking action to support Ontario’s hard-working business owners during these difficult economic times. Can the associate minister tell the House how the carbon tax compounds the financial pressure on Ontario’s small business?

It is not fair that the federal Liberals continue to punish Ontarians with tax hike after tax hike. Can the associate minister explain what our government is doing to support these vital job creators and offset the damage caused by the Liberal carbon tax supported by Bonnie Crombie?

I want to welcome to the House today two members of my riding of Durham, Mr. Doug Ellis and Mr. Timothy Zub, who are here today.

The Homeowner Protection Act, 2024, would, if passed, protect homeowners from harmful practices by banning the registration of consumer notices of security interest—NOSIs—on the land registry system and deeming existing consumer NOSIs to be expired.

The proposed act would protect buyers of new freehold homes by enabling the future implementation of a 10-day cooling-off period for purchases of new freehold homes, where the buyer could cancel the agreement for any reason within that period with no fear of financial penalty. This would help provide buyers with time to confidently make informed purchasing decisions.

The government is also committed to ensuring we continue to conserve Ontario’s heritage. The proposed legislation would, if passed, amend the Ontario Heritage Act to extend the deadline for municipalities to review their legacy-listed properties until January 1, 2027. This would support municipalities by easing administrative pressures and providing more opportunity for proactive designations.

Finally, to provide continued certainty for our building partners on transit-oriented community projects, the proposed legislation would exempt certain transit-oriented community lands from the immunity provisions in the Planning Act related to the making, amending or revoking of minister’s zoning orders.

I would like to thank the deputy minister within my ministry, Renu Kulendran; my chief of staff, Michelle Stock; my deputy chief of staff, Kai Nademi; my director of issues and legislative affairs, Erika Soler; my parliamentary assistant, Brian Riddell; and the MPP from Kitchener–Conestoga right behind me here.

Mrs. McCrimmon moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 201, An Act to amend the Environmental Protection Act with respect to change of use exemptions / Projet de loi 201, Loi modifiant la Loi sur la protection de l’environnement à l’égard des exemptions en matière de changement d’usage.

My question is to the Premier. Child care operators have been warning this government since 2022 about the mismanagement on the Canada-wide Early Learning Child Care program file.

Child care operators like Ola have already opted out, and now, Sunnyside Garden, a not-for-profit daycare, is telling us that the funding formula, if it’s not fixed immediately, they will be forced to either opt out or close their doors.

The government’s latest budget doesn’t even mention child care, and last week, the minister announced the government won’t be releasing a new funding formula until 2025.

The cost of living is hard enough for families, and making families pay the price for the minister’s failure to implement the $10-a-day child care spaces is making things worse. Will the minister commit to parents and child care centres today that the newly announced funding formula is a full-cost-recovery model and will be implemented without further delay?

Thank you to the Solicitor General for the response. It is alarming to hear how the carbon tax is negatively affecting our public safety system. While our government remains focused on delivering solutions to keep Ontarians safe, the opposition NDP and independent Liberals continue to support a tax that puts a strain on resources for our first responders.

Speaker, I think it is interesting that the former mayor of Mississauga, Bonnie Crombie, who would have approved the budget for her municipal fire department and understood the implications that this punitive tax was having on the budget of her emergency response system—but now, today, as the leader of the independent Liberals, she is supporting the federal government and tripling this tax by 2030.

Speaker, can the—

What would absolutely make things worse is following the NDP plan to preclude 70,000 spaces, or 30% of the market. The NDP position is to literally deny 30% of the market from participating, and yet today, they actually ask a question about increasing wait-lists. It was this Progressive Conservative government that cut fees by 50%, saving $8,000 to $12,000 a year, after the NDP propped up the Liberals increasing it by 400%, pricing mothers out of the market, having to choose between work and raising their kids.

We’re standing up for access, but we’re also standing up to the federal Liberal government to make sure we get the flexibility and the funding. The very operators the member opposite speaks about, they deserve—we agree with the premise of the problem. The federal program has massive shortcomings. So stand with us, stand with operators, stand up for choice and actually get the job done for affordable—