Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and welcome to the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex. I knew from day one he would see you here in this House.

To answer his question, ladies and gentlemen, the fact of the matter is, as we heard yesterday from the president of the Grain Farmers of Ontario, they are being stressed. The emotional toll of Liberal ideology is really becoming palatable. Last week, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture actually just released results of a survey that said what worries farmers most across Ontario—from Essex to Cornwall to Atikokan, they are worried about tax burden.

Speaker, I stand in this House every day proudly representing farmers across this province. But I stand in front of you today for the first time to say I’m worried. The corn is barely popping out of the ground, and I’m hearing across the province farmers worrying about the cost of drying that corn this fall. The cost is going through the roof, especially since the Liberal ideology saw the carbon tax increase 23% April 1. It’s a travesty.

I was so very proud when I joined the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex just last week, when we celebrated a provincial investment of $2.4 million into Parkhill Meats. We’re bringing processing close to the farmers. And that huge crowd that was there that included farmers that are going to benefit were celebrating our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford.

Furthermore, we have introduced a $25-million Agri-Tech Innovation Initiative. We also have a Biosecurity Enhancement Initiative. We also have a program to enable farmers to grow future opportunities. Again, we are standing up programs that are resonating and assisting farmers to offset the ridiculous pressure that is coming from Liberal—

My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The Liberal carbon tax harms hard-working individuals, businesses and farmers. People in my riding of Lambton–Kent–Middlesex and across the province rely on Ontario farmers to grow high-quality and healthy food for them and their families. But the federal Liberals, supported by the Liberal members sitting here in this House, continue to disrespect farmers through their unfair tax schemes.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is supporting men and women who are producing food for our growing population. It is time that all governments do the same. Speaker, can the minister please tell the House why farmers in Ontario want to see the carbon tax scrapped immediately?

Ontario’s agriculture and food industry contributes over $48 billion in our province’s GDP and economy, representing more than 800,000 jobs. It’s essential that our vital sector continues to grow and produce more food for our growing population and export markets. We cannot let the Liberals and their carbon tax continue to add unnecessary costs that reduce competitive advantage at our global level. They need to finally start listening and show our farmers some support instead of trying to tax them out of the province.

Speaker, can the minister explain how our government is supporting Ontario farmers as they fight against this carbon tax?

Speaker, here’s the TDSB list of capital priority projects:

(1) Kapapamahchakwew, Wandering Spirit School—a step forward for truth and reconciliation—in Toronto–Danforth;

(2) St. Margaret’s Public School desperately needs a rebuild, with a long-term care already partnering with them, in Scarborough–Guildwood;

(3) Secord Public School, the largest and oldest portapack system, waiting for a rebuild since the Premier and I were at city hall together, in my riding, Beaches–East York;

(4) Etobicoke Centre Elementary—say no more—fourth on the list, but with the golden ticket of having a Conservative MPP to trump all other criteria.

My question to the Premier: Whether it’s hospitals, long-term cares or schools, why does the gravy train only stop in Conservative ridings?

Mr. Speaker, it’s just flabbergasting to hear this question from the Liberal Party. Honest to God, are you a revisionist that just came down to Earth? After cutting funding for capital, closing 600 schools, having the worst EQAO standards in Ontario history, you are lecturing this Premier on academic success and building anything?

In Scarborough on Friday, in the NDP riding of Doly Begum, I stood with our Scarborough colleagues to announce a new French elementary school for the people of Scarborough. It happened to be an NDP riding, but we don’t care because we’re investing in what matters to families.

I’ve been in TDSB. I was in London with the member just sitting across—

Mr. Speaker, we’re committed to building—

Interjections.

To the Speaker: The members opposite want the government to sign on to a private member’s bill, duplicative fundamentally in its nature, to actually undermine choice of parents. That is not a position supported by mainstream families, who want their choices in how they want they raise their kids to be supported. Non-profit, for-profit, home care: The government’s policy is to support them all. The members opposite should get onside.

Interjections.

My question is to the Premier. Later today, I will be debating my PMB, Bill 191, Childcare and Early Years Workforce Strategy Advisory Committee Act. The bill seeks—

Interjections.

The bill seeks to address workforce issues impacting child care in Ontario, mainly the staffing shortages operators have been reporting. Families deserve to have affordable child care that they can rely on. Early childhood workers deserve jobs that they can turn into careers, and operators deserve a funding model that secures a future for child care.

My question is to the Premier. Will this government commit supporting my bill so Ontario families can access the child care in this province that they need?

The member for Ottawa South, come to order.

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

The supplementary question.

I’ll remind members that they need to make their comments through the Chair.

Interjections.

The next question. Start the clock.

Interjections.

Restart the clock. Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The next question.

[Inaudible] come to order.

Supplementary question: the member for London West.

To respond, the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

The supplementary question.

The Premier.

I’m going to say this: It’s not helpful to speculate on the outcome of the next election in individual seats or the timing of the election, possibly. That doesn’t add anything to the debate.

The next question.

Let’s take a step back, Speaker. We inherited a child care program that costs, on average, $50 to $60 a day. It was our government, under our Premier’s leadership, that cut that by 50%, saving $6,000 to $12,000 per child per year. We then committed to build spaces: 86,000 spaces for which the government is on track, 41,000 spaces created since 2018.

The member opposite speaks about supporting our staff. It was this government that just increased wages this year by 19% in the first year, achieving wage parity with the ECEs in kindergarten, because that was a fundamental priority: to reduce the exodus of staff going from child care into our school system. We now have wage parity. We’re increasing wages by $1 per hour per year, every year; this is going to make a difference as we retain more workers.

As we build more spaces, we continue to reduce fees for the people of Ontario.

My question is to the Premier. Last week, the Premier announced that the government will be spending $225 million to introduce and expedite alcohol sales into convenience stores and gas stations.

Meanwhile, in northern Ontario, we continue to see opioid-related deaths rise. In fact, the north has three times the mortality rate from overdose compared with the rest of the province.

The priorities in Timmins, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Sioux Lookout, Elliot Lake and every community across northern Ontario is not a quicker access to alcohol. They would rather see these millions go towards supervised consumption sites and addiction centres that have been working on shoestring budgets to save people’s lives in northern Ontario.

Why is the Premier prioritizing alcohol sales over dying people from opioid overdoses?

Interjections.

When I speak with people in my riding, they want to know—not what we are doing about a five-minute wait at the liquor store but what we’re doing about a five-hour wait time in ER rooms.

Speaker, this Premier is spending $225 million to expand alcohol sales while hospitals in northern Ontario continue to struggle with inadequate funding from this government.

Last week’s press conference sounded a lot like a campaign launch to me, Speaker. So I would like to know: Does the speaker plan to run on more alcohol being sold in Ontario or does he plan on eventually addressing the health care crisis in northern Ontario?

Interjections.

To the member opposite: Thank you for that question. It’s an important question and it is something that is being addressed by this government in a very substantive way.

When you think about the amount of investments that we’re making—over $525 million in annualized investments, $90 million specifically focused on building treatment and recovery beds, withdrawal management, treatment beds and supportive housing—all of these investments are creating a continuum of care.

Interjections.

Interjections.

With all due respect to the member, he’s worried about an early election. He should be worrying about who you’re running for: As an independent? Are you running for the Liberals? Are you running for the NDP? That’s what you have to determine, my friend, because you probably won’t be here next round.

But you know something, Mr. Speaker? Under the Liberals: the worst contract I have ever seen in business in 35 years. They were losing hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars every single year.

What we’re doing, we’re going to see new revenues of $895 million to $1.16 billion. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars that we can put towards health care, on top of the 30% increase we’ve already put to health care. We’re going to make sure we help people go to detox beds, rehabilitation centres. That’s where that money’s going to be going. It’s not going to be wasted like the Liberals in the worst contract I’ve ever—

Interjections.

Thank you for the question from the member from Peterborough–Kawartha.

This starts with exploration, and exploration starts with flying aeromag surveys or perhaps lidar surveys—carbon tax, carbon tax. When they find something, they marshal the drills into the bush, which are pulled in skidders—heavily, heavily fuel dependent; carbon tax. From there, it goes into camps, and it’s then core-and-split. Then it goes to places like Lakefield in Peterborough and in places like Oakville. What are they looking for? Critical minerals that will power the EV revolution. And why do we need the EV revolution? To reduce the carbon footprint.

This tax is counterproductive. It should be scrapped. The Liberals and their partners, the NDP, have to scrap this tax.

My question is for the Minister of Mines. The Liberal carbon tax is punishing families and businesses in northern Ontario by driving up costs and making life more unaffordable. To add insult to injury, the opposition members that represent northern communities continue to support this harmful tax.

The agriculture, forestry and mining sectors are all big job creators and economy builders in the north. They also happen to be the main targets for this NDP-backed Liberal cash grab. Unlike the opposition NDP and independent Liberals, our government continues to demonstrate support for the people and businesses in northern Ontario. We won’t stop fighting until the federal government finally scraps that tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain the burden this harmful tax is putting Ontario’s mining industry in?

We have the opportunity of a lifetime to build the supply chain for electric vehicles right here in Ontario that will fuel prosperity, create a better future for generations to come and reduce our carbon footprint. The made-in-Ontario supply chain starts with mining, and the carbon tax is taking a toll on this process with more increased expenses.

Everyone in this chamber knows that there is not a green economy without electric vehicles. Can the minister please explain how the Liberal carbon tax is threatening Ontario’s mining sector, as well as our entire electric vehicle supply chain?

It is unfortunate that I have to bring this petition forward, and I want to thank—

I would like to thank the thousands of people who have signed this petition created by OPSEU that discusses the public health labs that are scheduled to close. We have six public health labs across the province, in Timmins, Sault Ste. Marie, Hamilton, Peterborough, Kingston, and Orillia. These labs collect specific water tests and other important natures for sensitive medical tests that are needed in our community each day—like I said, the water tests, and testing for infectious diseases in our local hospitals and long-term-care facilities. People are calling to stop the closures in the six municipalities that I spoke of and to invest in true public health measures to ensure that Ontarians are kept safe.

I wholeheartedly support this petition. I will affix my name to it and give it to page Archibald to bring to the Clerk.

We know that people who are living on social services, Ontario Works, ODSP in this province are living in legislated poverty. A person on Ontario Works makes $733 a month; a person on ODSP is $1,338 a month—well below the poverty line.

We know that during COVID, the CERB program was $2,000 per month, which was the reasonable rate for a person to live off of. And yet, the Ontario Works rates have had zero increase, and a small increase to ODSP—again, still below the poverty line.

So folks here are asking that the Legislative Assembly double social assistance rates for Ontario Works and ODSP.

I fully support this petition. I will affix my name to it and—

Speaker, I have a petition: “A Future for Childcare in Ontario.” As you would know, currently, there are as many as 65,000 new child care workers needed to meet the expected child care demand.

I had a child care day in my riding, and so many people told me that they are unable to access important child care so that they can go to work. The biggest problem is that child care workers—they’re having a difficult time retaining child care workers.

So, to address the workforce shortage, including increased salary, this is an important provision to make sure that we are able to provide the child care that we need in this province.

This petition calls for the immediate establishment of an early years and child care working advisory commission, as part of our ongoing efforts to make sure that parents and children are able to access adequate child care in this province.

I have many, many people in my riding and across Ontario signing this petition. I wholeheartedly agree with this. I’m going to affix my name to it and give it to page Ethan to give to the table.

This petition has been signed by a few people here on the sheet that I have. The petition is a solution to a problem that we have in this Legislature, in the province of Ontario. The solution is, we need to pass Bill 191. It’s a bill that creates a child care worker and early years workforce committee to help develop a workforce strategy so that we can promote and create and retain and recruit a child care workforce. There are 65,000 new workers that we need in Ontario in order to meet demands of child care spaces, and so this petition is a solution to that.

The signatures on this petition are asking the Ontario Legislature to pass Bill 191 so that we can actually address the workforce and get the workers in the spaces that we need, so people can access affordable child care in this province.

I would like to thank all of the supporters of the Spot—this is the supervised consumption site—for their signatures on their petition. You can sort of hear them because they’re outside of the Legislature right now.

Did you know, Speaker, that in Sudbury the overdose death rate is three times higher than in the rest of Ontario?

They submitted an application in 2021 for funding for a supervised consumption site, which we call the Spot, but the government refuses to fund them. They were operated for a while by money that came from the municipality and then by donors, and while they were operated, they had over a thousand visits. They reversed all 17 overdoses that happened on-site, and they helped decrease the amount of overdoses throughout our community because they tested drugs.

I agree with the petition to immediately approve funding for the supervised consumption site in Sudbury, to save lives. I will add my name to it and ask my good page Myah to bring it to the Clerk.

Thanks again very much for the question.

Mr. Speaker, we’re very lucky that Ontario has the minerals to power the EV revolution. We’ve got nickel deposits in Timmins, of course, that are huge. The next round of drilling will, of course, make Canada, Ontario—give us the highest nickel resource globally. Not only do we have nickel in Timmins, but we have nickel in Sudbury and the Ring of Fire.

We don’t want the nickel from Indonesia. The Indonesian nickel is financed by the Chinese. It’s powered by coal, and the tailings go right into the ocean. We don’t want that nickel. We want the nickel from Ontario.

These companies are burdened by the carbon tax.

On top of that, we’ve got rare earths in the Ring of Fire—so we secure the supply chain for our national defence, as well. We’ve got the minerals to secure the supply chain from northern Ontario into southern Ontario.

We have to scrap this tax. The Liberals must scrap this tax.

I do want to thank the member opposite for the question, because it does allow us to highlight some of the things that our government is doing to support our small businesses across the province.

Just in the 2024 budget, we added an additional $6.8 million over the next two years for our small businesses—for those who want to start their businesses through the Starter Company Plus Program with grants of up to $5,000; for many of our young people who want to have a Summer Company program.

Just yesterday, the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development had a young man, 16 years old, who was actually producing freeze-dried fruits and ice cream, and it was just a great opportunity that he was taking—one of the programs that we support.

Our regional innovation centres are providing great services for those who wish to export their products.

Our Small Business Enterprise Centres are there on the ground helping people who have great ideas and want to get them off the ground.

We’re investing in women’s futures and women’s economic—

Yes, many, many businesses are struggling. But there is one thing that the member opposite, her party, the provincial Liberal Party can do: They can call on their federal counterparts to scrap the carbon tax, which is adding massive expenses to all of our businesses across this province. It’s hurting our growth.

The Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade travels the world and brings amazing investments into Ontario. The Minister of Colleges and Universities, the Minister of Agriculture and I were just in Indiana, talking about how we can attract more businesses to come here, start and grow. And we’re having tremendous success, but you know what hurts all of that? The federal carbon tax.

So once again, we ask you: stand with us, call on your federal counterparts and tell them to scrap the tax today.