My question is for the Associate Minister of Housing. Last month, the federal government increased the carbon tax by a staggering 23%. It is the cruellest April Fool’s joke the province has ever seen.

Speaker, the federal Liberals, with the full support of their provincial counterparts, want to triple this tax by 2030. It’s not right, Speaker. This disastrous carbon tax is burdening Ontarians and adding more obstacles in housing construction, leaving more young families waiting to achieve their dream of home ownership.

The people of this province cannot afford the carbon tax and that’s why we are calling for its complete removal. Speaker, can the associate minister explain how the carbon tax is driving up the cost of building new homes?

The carbon tax is impacting each and every Ontarian who is looking to buy a home. It not only drives up the cost for home builders, but it is making it more expensive to build the critical infrastructure that each community needs to meet its growing housing demands. If we want to be able to build more homes and make housing more affordable for Ontario families, we need the federal government to remove the carbon tax.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is also raising the costs of building housing-enabling infrastructure?

I’m very pleased, in fact, to stand alongside the minister responsible for francophone affairs. We’ve expanded French services throughout Ontario not only for interpretation for individuals, free of charge; for filing documents at any court counter across the province. We do actively recruit all the time for adjudicators who are qualified, who are bilingual. We look for them vigorously.

Just yesterday, I sat down with the Windsor-Essex Bilingual Legal Clinic to hear how things are going for them in front of the Social Benefits Tribunal, the LTB and the other tribunals. So Mr. Speaker, not only are we on the job, we’re getting the job done.

Mr. Speaker, we actively seek out bilingual individuals when it comes to justices of peace as well, because that’s a very important component of our system. But I know, the member opposite—we share the same goal, which is robust services for the people of Ontario. So I’m always open to ideas or to know where the gaps may be, and I look forward to continuing to work with you to solve some of those challenges.

Supplementary question.

Minister of Education.

Interjections.

Start the clock.

Supplementary question?

La Loi sur les services en français oblige le gouvernement à offrir de façon proactive des services juridiques en français. La loi est claire : la qualité des services gouvernementaux doit être la même en français qu’en anglais.

Cependant, les expériences des francophones démontrent que dans nos cours de justice et nos tribunaux administratifs ce n’est pas le cas. Les francophones sont trop souvent traités comme des inconvénients et des boulets, et forcés de naviguer des processus en anglais. Ils sont obligés de remplir des formulaires en anglais, d’écouter des réponses à leurs questions en anglais ou d’attendre très longtemps avant que du personnel francophone soit disponible pour les aider.

Il est clair qu’il existe un manque cruel de juges et de personnel bilingue dans nos cours et tribunaux administratifs. Donc, au lieu de dépenser plus d’un milliard de dollars pour prioriser l’accès à l’alcool aux Ontariens, ce gouvernement va-t-il investir les fonds nécessaires pour embaucher plus de juges et de personnel francophones dans nos tribunaux pour que les Franco-Ontariens puissent accéder aux services en français auxquels ils ont droit?

One more time, I’ll remind the members of the House to make their comments through the Chair.

Interjections.

The Minister of Education may reply.

Interjections.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The member for Haldimand–Norfolk, next question.

My question is to the Premier. There are 2.3 million Ontarians currently without a family doctor, and no admission from this government that this province is headed into a perfect storm.

On Monday, the health minister, in response to a question, suggested the member sit down with hospital CEOs to learn the truth. I’ve sat down with hospital CEOs and they are clear that health care in Ontario has never looked as grim as it does today.

Last week, I was contacted by a mayor, represented by a government member, who said that in the near future, one third of the population this mayor represents will be without primary care. “We are desperate now,” this mayor told me, and yet the minister is on record as saying recruitment and retention of doctors in Ontario is not a major concern.

Speaker, through you to the Premier: If 2.3 million Ontarians without a doctor or a third of a town’s population without a doctor is not a major concern, then what constitutes a major concern with respect to health care in this province?

I was on a call recently, and there were government members also on that same call, where a mayor expressed frustration that this government expects him to welcome more and more people through new builds, and yet his local ER is constantly shuttered.

If everything is fine, why are 2.3 million Ontarians without a doctor? Are the hospital CEOs not telling the truth? Are the mayors I speak to being dramatic? What about constituents lining up for hours at walk-in clinics or at ERs? Are they faking it? And why are there thousands of Ontarians set to converge on Queen’s Park tomorrow for a health care rally?

Ontarians need a doctor, not rhetoric. Speaker, again through you to the Premier, who is telling the truth: this government, or the very people who rely on an ailing system each and every day?

I thank the member for her interest in northwestern Ontario. Yesterday I shared with colleagues our annual ritual where myself, my sweet precious Abigail Mae and darling Poppy Kate, and their friends Whisper and Adele joined us in our leap into Lake of the Woods, at 48 degrees.

Interjection: Wow.

Mr. Speaker, the message is clear from those tourism operators: The federal government needs to scrap the tax, and our provincial counterparts need to stand with us in keeping costs low so that these folks can make an honest living.

Mr. Speaker, this is not about lack of funds; it’s a lack of will of the TDSB to do their job. You should stand up to the school board who is literally sitting on $350 million of maintenance funding. What do you not understand about this problem? They have literally a quarter of a billion dollars in cash that they’re supposed to spend on maintenance that they don’t spend and they keep banking year over year. They became such an outlier—

Interjection.

Stand up to the boards of education who are hoarding cash, who do not in any way uphold their obligations under law to make sure—

Interjections.

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Indigenous Affairs and Northern Development. At a time of high interest rates and a rising cost of living, the federal Liberals decided to hike the carbon tax by another 23%. The disastrous effects of this costly tax are being felt in communities across Ontario, but especially in the north.

Northerners already pay more at the gas pumps and at the grocery stores as compared to the rest of Ontario. They should not be punished with more tax hikes. Our government will always advocate on behalf of Ontarians. We will continue to call on the federal Liberals to end the tax now.

Speaker, can the minister please explain to the House how our government is supporting northern communities instead of imposing unjust tax?

Speaker, we know that unlike other parts of our province, the north faces unique challenges that should be recognized, not taxed. The federal Liberals and their provincial counterparts need to respect northerners and finally get rid of this disastrous tax. Speaker, can the minister further explain why families and businesses in the north cannot afford this costly carbon tax?

Thank you for the question. In Ontario, all retirement homes are regulated by the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, or RHRA. This retirement home is responsible for submitting a transition plan to the RHRA before ceasing operations. The RHRA works with all retirement homes to ensure compliance and that residents receive support in the event of a closure.

We encourage the home to continue to work together with the community organizations and the local government to resettle residents and ensure all are able to live comfortable, healthy lifestyles.

We encourage the retirement home and others involved to keep working together to ensure all residents have a safe and comfortable place to live.

Thank you for the question. I’m not aware of the file that the member opposite is talking about, but as he well knows, we have an independent tribunal that will hear complaints, that will hear issues for landlords. We also have a robust legal aid clinic that will likely be able to help the individual.

I can’t get into specifics of individual cases, because it is an independent tribunal—it’s a quasi-judicial entity—but there are rules in place and those rules will be enforced. I’m happy to hear more of the individual’s experience, but we can’t wade into an independent process.

But we also have a tribunal that’s independent, with independent adjudicators, with rules that can be applied, and that can issue orders. At this point the board is issuing orders within 30 days 90% of the time, from the time of the hearing.

So there are resources. There is also legal assistance, whether it be legal aid clinics or others. I would encourage the member to steer them to the resources that are available, rather than just politicizing the situation of individuals.

I beg leave to present a report from the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs and move its adoption.

My question is to the Premier. Residents at 435 Nelson Street in London are dealing with a terrible landlord. The owners, who call themselves the “House Hustlers,” have pushed tenants out so they can drive prices up further. A government that truly cared for people would pass Bill 25, the Rent Stabilization Act, and end the financial incentive to kick people out of their homes. Why does this government allow bad landlords to renovict and make the housing crisis even worse?

Back to the Premier: 11 tenants are left at 435 Nelson Street. One started chemotherapy just last week. In an email to residents, “House Hustler” Amanda claimed to have “started the permit process to demolish,” yet city records show that no permit has been requested or issued. It’s clear: They’re trying to scare people into leaving their homes.

When will this government actually stand up for renters and pass legislation to stop renovictions before they happen?

Speaker, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks chronicling the happenings among the carbon tax nobility, and it’s quite a cast of characters. Of course, you’ve got the bafflegab coming from the junior ranks: Prince Carney and—I don’t know what you would call Jagmeet Singh; maybe duke of the carbon tax. Nonetheless, no clear position on this tax; it’s one of convenience, when Canadians speak out against the crushing impact it’s having on their everyday lives, Mr. Speaker.

But one thing is perfectly clear: The king of the carbon tax and the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, are unrelenting in their position. They see this as an environmental policy, when everybody else knows it isn’t. What families and small businesses in northwestern Ontario know is that it costs too much to live, it costs too much to operate a business. That’s why we need to scrap the tax.

To the Premier: 200 seniors are set to be evicted from Chartwell Heritage Glen on July 31 of this year, and this government has not taken the action. The people have been asking for responses; they’re not getting responses from the government. The mayor of Mississauga has written to this government and to seven Conservative MPPs and not received a response.

What we’ve uncovered is that Chartwell, since 2004, has received 75 million taxpayer dollars in subsidies. This is the corporation that is now renovicting 200 seniors. Will this government stand up to Chartwell and demand that those seniors be allowed to stay in their homes?

Interjections.

It points out that Ontario Place has been a cherished public space for 50 years, it has provided recreation and cultural experiences for Ontarians, and it was designed to celebrate the people of Ontario and the ingenuity of Ontarians—including Eb Zeidler, who was the original architect, Michael Hough, who was the landscape architect—and also to celebrate creating the first IMAX movie theatre. And IMAX is a technology that was developed in Ontario.

They’re saying that the plan to lease this out for 95 years to Therme, which is an Austrian spa company, is in breach of the original intention of Ontario Place. It has nothing to do with Ontario and it’s a waste of at least $650 million.

It also talks about how relocating the science centre and destroying that iconic building is also a waste of our tax dollars, another $400 million there. So they’re asking the government to stop the 95-year lease of the Ontario Place site.

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

It gives me—actually, it’s quite sad to present this petition on the one-year anniversary of the permanent closure of Minden—

I’m presenting this petition on behalf of people from Minden that had a permanent closure—Chesley, Clinton, Almonte, Arnprior, Campbellford, Carleton Place, Durham, Hamilton, Hawkesbury, Listowel, Mount Forest, Palmerston, Red Lake, Seaforth, South Huron, St. Marys, Thessalon, Walkerton, Wingham, Fort Erie and Port Colborne. What they are asking for is to keep rural Ontario emergency departments open.

Basically, all of the people who signed this petition live in a community where their emergency room has closed, and they would like the government to take this seriously. They urge the Legislative Assembly to take immediate action to protect the health and well-being of people who live in the rural communities that I just named and to keep their emergency department open.

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

The bill amends the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, 2004. The amendments prohibit nurse practitioners from accepting certain private payments or benefits for providing services to an insured person that would normally be provided as insured services in specified settings. Payments or benefits for these services may still be accepted from specified public sources or in accordance with the regulations.

The penalties for contraventions of the act are increased, and a new regulation-making power permits regulations providing for and governing reimbursements of payments or benefits made for these services within six months after the day this act receives royal assent.

It recognizes the fact that we are in a drug-poisoning epidemic across the province and that consumption and treatment sites and safe consumption, supervised consumption sites have been an essential method of keeping people alive.

The members who have signed this—representing many nurses and people who have been impacted by the drug-poisoning crisis—call for immediate funding to reopen consumption and treatment sites, supervised consumption sites in Windsor, Sudbury, Timmins and in any community that requires it to stop the deaths.

I support this petition and am pleased to submit it to page Jessica.

This bill calls on the government to establish a committee to come up with a plan to make the Union Pearson Express affordable, to integrate it into the TTC so it costs a TTC fare to ride; to increase capacity; and to electrify the line. This would be the cheapest mass-transit line Toronto could ever get. It’s very sensible, and that’s what this bill proposes to do.

Mr. Shamji moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 203, An Act to amend the Commitment to the Future of Medicare Act, 2004 with respect to payments to nurse practitioners / Projet de loi 203, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2004 sur l’engagement d’assurer l’avenir de l’assurance-santé à l’égard des honoraires à verser aux infirmières praticiennes et aux infirmiers praticiens.

This petition asks that the rates for Ontario Works and the Ontario Disability Support Program be doubled in order to address poverty in Ontario.

I support this petition, and I will be affixing my signature to it and giving it to page Sophia.

Minister of Northern Development.

Supplementary?

The next question.

The Minister for Seniors and Accessibility will respond.

The Minister for Seniors and Accessibility.

The division bells rang from 1153 to 1158.

On May 28, 2024, Ms. Armstrong moved second reading of Bill 191, An Act respecting the establishment of a Childcare and Early Years Workforce Strategy Advisory Committee.

All those in favour, please rise and remain standing until recognized by the Clerk.

Second reading negatived.

The House recessed from 1202 to 1500.

Report adopted.

Report adopted.

Ms. Bell moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 202, An Act to amend the Metrolinx Act, 2006 to provide for a committee to review matters relating to the Union Pearson Express / Projet de loi 202, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2006 sur Metrolinx pour prévoir la création d’un comité chargé d’examiner des questions concernant l’Union Pearson Express.

First reading agreed to.

First reading agreed to.

I’ll return to the member for Nickel Belt.