Look, as I said yesterday, if the honourable member has additional information that she would like to provide to the Integrity Commissioner, I encourage her to do so.

I believe that everyone here has been introduced—oh. The member for St. Catharines.

The Leader of the Opposition.

The government House leader can reply.

Look, as I said, I have every confidence that if the member has information that she wants to share with the Integrity Commissioner, the member will do so. I have the same confidence that the Integrity Commissioner will review any information that he has, and if he needs to inform this House of additional actions that need to be taken, I’m sure the Integrity Commissioner will do just that.

The Leader of the Opposition talks about accountability. Well, the people of Ontario just returned a verdict on accountability, and they returned two Progressive Conservatives to this government. They didn’t just return two Progressive Conservatives, they returned them in greater numbers than they did at the general election. And do you know what happened at that point? They also passed judgment on the Leader of the Opposition and on the leader of the Liberal Party. Do you know what that judgment was, Mr. Speaker? That they continue to fail the people of the province of Ontario.

In the NDP’s case—

Interjection.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Out of the ashes of them, we are building a bigger, better, stronger Ontario—

Interjection.

The Leader of the Opposition talks about accountability; we know what accountability means for the NDP. We’re seeing it in Ottawa right now: They could bring down a government in Ottawa that is forcing a carbon tax on the people of the province of Ontario and Canada, which is harming Canadians. What do they do? They sit on the sidelines. When the former Liberal chief of staff was going to jail, what did they do? They kept him in office, Mr. Speaker, because that’s what the NDP do.

They don’t want to do the work. They don’t want to put the time in to build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario. They’re always happy to talk down to the people of this province.

What we will do is talk up Ontario, continue to bring investment opportunities—700,000 people have the dignity of a job that didn’t before, and we’ll continue on that path.

Interjections.

Interjection.

Now, just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, the Liberals came in and doubled down on bad government. So what did we have to do? Rebuild the province of Ontario from the ground up, Mr. Speaker. We had to encourage people to come back and invest in Ontario. We had to rebuild our health care sector. We had to ensure that our emergency services—our police, fire, paramedics—

Interjection.

We had to build new schools, roads, public transportation. The job is not done, Mr. Speaker. We will continue to build a bigger, better, stronger Ontario whether they join us or not. We know the Liberals never will. We will continue to get the job done.

Member for Nepean, come to order.

The final supplementary.

The government House leader.

Interjections.

Start the clock. Next question.

Wow, you’re really digging. You have to rely on the media?

Well, Speaker, I’ll tell you what—and back to the Premier again: This is business as usual for this government. They will do anything to avoid accountability.

I’m going to give you another example. Global News has obtained through a twin freedom-of-information request a bunch of texts that were sent between Mr. Sackville and Metrolinx million-dollar-man Phil Verster.

So, Speaker, I want to see the texts. Ontarians want to see those texts. Where are the texts?

Deleted emails, contradictory testimony—

Interjections.

Does the Premier think he and his staff are above the law?

For months now—months—there has been a flood of evidence that shows deleted emails, missing texts, inaccurate testimonies, hidden text messages, a flagrant disregard for the law by this government.

I want to ask the Premier again: If Mr. Sackville doesn’t have the integrity to resign, will this Premier have the guts to fire him?

Interjections.

While this government is flip-flopping, hiding texts, losing ministers, deleting emails to enrich their land speculator friends, housing starts—which I will remind the Speaker and the government was what this was all supposed to be about, by the way—are 37% lower than they were last year. To catch up on that lagging goal—I think they had said they were going to build 1.5 million homes by 2031—the province needs to build at least 125,000 homes this year. Based on the government’s own plans and their own budget, we are nowhere near where we need to be.

So my question to the Premier is, where are the new, deeply affordable homes that this government promised Ontarians?

But again, housing starts are 37% lower right now than they were a year ago. I’ve got to tell you, Speaker, that doesn’t shout success to me. That shouts failure, after six long years of this government, after ministers resigning, deleted texts, emails gone missing.

It’s just another example of how this government refuses to treat the housing crisis with the urgency that it deserves. They promised 20,000 new homes by now. Six years into the affordable housing agreement with the federal government—

Interjection.

—we have barely built, get this, 1,000 new affordable homes. One way we could move that forward is building fourplexes. So I want to ask the Premier to stop blocking new housing and commit to authorizing fourplexes as of right across this province.

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. A bill that would ban federal employers from using replacement workers or scabs during walkouts or strikes passed the House of Commons unanimously on Monday.

MPs from all parties voted in favour of the legislation, seeing it pass 316 to 0. United Steel Workers District 6 represents over 78,000 active members and 50,000 retirees across Ontario and Atlantic Canada. They’re here today calling for action.

Premier, the Ontario NDP has brought forward anti-scab legislation 17 times, and every time, your government has said no. Will you follow your federal cousins’ lead and pass this important legislation here in Ontario?

Interjections.

In Sudbury, steelworkers have been on strike at SNOLAB since May 8. Some of these workers haven’t had a raise in years. I’ve talked to these workers several times. They love their jobs, but they can’t make ends meet. They want a contract with a cost-of-living increase, and they want paid family responsibility leave, which is similar to management.

The employer keeps saying that there’s no money for this, but they always have money to pay for scab workers across the line. They always have money to pay for security to bring them across the line. And I was just told this morning that they’ve hired summer students to do this work.

We need anti-scab to protect the summer student workers. We need anti-scab to protect these workers and have shorter conflicts. My question is: Will the Premier support and commit to restoring anti-scab legislation in Ontario?

Interjections.

This Premier is focused on ensuring workers in this province are protected, and at every opportunity, I would say, as I’ve said in this place before, 98% of deals in Ontario—98 plus per cent—are done at the table under collective bargaining.

This Premier has made historic investments into workers through the Skills Development Fund, reduced barriers for marginalized, racialized workers, and got more women into the trades. The consistent thing—more than 18 times—is that the party opposite has voted against every one of those measures. It’s really regrettable because it’s ensuring men and women are collecting better jobs and bigger paycheques. They’re working on the front lines to support the automotive investments, the historic public transit investments.

We’ll keep working with labour unions across Ontario, and I welcome their ideas any day of the week.

It’s clear to me that the Leader of the Opposition doesn’t have a clue what is happening in the province of Ontario. In fact, we have had some of the highest housing starts in over a generation over the last number of years. You know what home builders are telling us is the number one reason they’re not getting shovels in the ground? It’s high interest rates, carbon tax and infrastructure. We brought in the largest infrastructure program in history—

Interjection.

But we’ve seen this before. Remember when the Minister of Education was negotiating a child care deal? They wanted to take the first deal that was put in front of them. That’s them: first-deal NDP. What we are is better-deal Progressive Conservatives—better for the people of the province of Ontario, better for the economy, better for taxpayers—

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Energy. Speaker, the federal carbon tax is increasing the price of everything for everyone in the province of Ontario. Families across the province who are already struggling with high interest rates and rising costs of living are being punished with even more tax hikes. The Liberal agenda of high taxes is taking away people’s ability to afford basic necessities and feed their families.

Our government will not stop fighting against this costly tax. The federal government must stop their plan to triple the carbon tax and instead eliminate it altogether. Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is supporting every Ontarian that is negatively impacted by the carbon tax?

Speaker, despite our government’s continued efforts in keeping costs down for families and businesses, the Liberal carbon tax is working against us every single day. It’s not fair that hard-working Ontarians can be hit with one tax hike after another tax hike after another tax hike. We need less talk and we need decisive action from the federal government. End the carbon tax today.

Can the minister tell this House why the Liberals must stop serving up more punitive tax hikes?

The Associate Minister of Small Business will come to order.

To reply, the government House leader and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Start the clock. The next question.

Interjections.

The Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

Mike, a proud steelworker, is a 78-year-old resident of Sault Ste. Marie. Mike has diabetes. He is a two-time cancer survivor. Last year, he underwent a heart procedure, so Mike needs frequent consultation with his doctor to manage his recovery and his new medications.

On Friday, Mike, his daughter, two grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and 10,000 more Sault Ste. Marie residents will lose their family doctor. What is the Minister of Health’s plan to help the good people of Sault Ste. Marie?

It doesn’t have to be that way, Speaker. The Group Health Centre has submitted solutions, alternatives, to this Minister of Health, and they did not even get a reply. Some 10,000 people in Sault Ste. Marie are losing access to primary care this Friday; no answer, no plan, no action, nothing from this government. How could that be, Speaker?

Interjections.

Oh, God.

I’d welcome a sit-down with that member with respect to the incident that he referenced.

I would also mention—he mentioned family leave. He would know that Ontario has launched extensive consultations. I just met with colorectal, with cancer groups on a protected leave, and it’s on our registry right now.

At each step of the way, this Premier, through multiple labour bundles, is putting forward progressive legislation that’s expanding protections under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, expanding protections under the Employment Standards Act, putting in place some tough fines for bad actors, and he’s doing it creating a competitive economy that’s attracted $40-plus billion in automotive investments alone; creating a world-class power grid that’s keeping costs down, unlike the reckless Green Energy Act of the previous government; building public transit—

Interjections.

The member will take his seat. Order.

Interjection.

The next question.

The Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The next question.

The Minister of Health.

Speaker, at every single opportunity they get, the Liberals have hiked taxes. Not only do they continue to hike the carbon tax, but now they plan to cancel the accelerated capital cost allowance. Now, Speaker, that’s the exact program that our government put in place to create 700,000 jobs since we were elected. The Liberals are taking that away from our businesses.

Their tax hikes chased 300,000 manufacturing jobs out of Ontario. If they need proof that lower taxes create jobs, just look at our track record: again, 700,000 jobs created since we were elected, 80,000 jobs this year alone.

Enough with the tax hikes. They don’t work. Lowering taxes is what works to create the jobs. Scrap the tax today.

My question is the to Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. I’m so proud that Ontario continues to be top of mind for businesses that want to invest and expand. However, I think we all agree that the federal carbon tax imposed on the hard-working people of Ontario and our businesses really threatens all of that great progress that we’ve done as a province.

It’s unbelievable the Liberals in this House continue to be silent. They continue to sit on their hands as their federal Liberal colleagues chase investment and jobs out of this province and out of our country. I’d love for the minister to explain how the Liberal carbon tax not only makes life more expensive for Ontarians and our businesses, but how it threatens the progress that you and Premier Ford have been able to make in our province for job creation.

We know that the members opposite are hearing the same things in their ridings that we’re hearing, yet they are ignoring their constituents’ calls to stand up and ask the federal government to scrap the tax. Their lack of concern and the rapid rise in costs just show how out of touch the provincial Liberals and their federal colleagues are.

We don’t believe as a government that lowering emissions by crushing businesses and individuals, making life more unaffordable, is the way to go. So, Minister, can you please elaborate on why it’s so important that the federal government scrap that tax?