The loss of a child is indeed an unspeakable tragedy, and I believe all of us are deeply saddened by what has transpired at the Trenton High School—the loss of this young man. All of us express condolences to his family.

Now, there is an active coroner’s investigation, police investigation and school board investigation into the circumstances of what led to this tragedy, and I would ask all of us to responsibly allow that process to carry forth with the commitment that the coroner will inevitably bring forth recommendations to learn from this and to ensure it never happens again. That is our obligation. It’s the sombre obligation we will fulfill for this child and every child in this province.

Now, we recognize there’s more to do, which is why in budget 2024 we increased in-class supports for children with exceptionalities by an additional $10 million. We announced more funding for students with disabilities to pursue co-operative education, more training of our staff.

It would be irresponsible to draw conclusions at this point on what transpired, but be assured, we take this seriously. We’ll continue to invest, we’ll continue to hire, continue to do everything humanly possible to ensure the safety of children within our care.

Speaker, the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, the leader of the Liberal Party, is ebullient in her support of Justin Trudeau’s federal carbon tax, which is going up every April 1, including two months ago, with a whopping 23% increase that is affecting the price of groceries and gas and home heating, as the member from Lambton–Kent–Middlesex mentioned. The Liberals and the Greens and the NDP, their leadership was having a press conference this morning, and they want to go back to the ways of the Green Energy Act, where we paid over-market prices for energy and electricity generation in our province.

We brought in a new way of doing business, Mr. Speaker. It’s competitive procurements that are driving down the cost of energy in our province. Bills like Bill 165, keeping energy costs low, is what our Premier and what our government believes in. And the result is massive, massive multi-billion-dollar investments in our—

Interjections.

This government is laser-focused on empowering or workers. We understand that workers need to be reskilled and retrained, and that is why we continue to invest in our workers, especially through our SDF funding. We commit and continue to commit to supporting our workers to get in well-trained jobs as they move forward in their new positions.

We continue to do pre-training programs that provide $28.3 million from 2022 to 2023 and the $1.25-million In-Class Enhancement Fund to support delivery of quality retraining programs.

I don’t know where to begin on this one.

Mr. Speaker, if the member opposite had read some of the budgets passed by this House that her party voted against, she’d know that we cut the small business tax in our first mandate. She would know that we also accelerated the capital cost appreciation to help small businesses invest in capital.

It boggles the mind. In fact—boggle, boondoggle—the only way you can get to the Liberals’ numbers on alcohol is if Bonnie Boondoggle increased taxes and increased fees.

Mr. Speaker, this party is reducing fees, reducing taxes, helping small businesses so they can compete across the province and provide more consumer choice and convenience.

The question is for the Minister of Energy. The federal carbon tax is a tax that farmers, small business owners and Ontario families have repeatedly said no to. While our government continues to deliver measures to make life more affordable, the Liberals and NDP fail to empathize with Ontarians who are struggling. They have no problem seeing this carbon tax triple over the next six years—triple.

While the cost of living is at an all-time high, it is beyond disappointing to see opposition members fail to do the right thing and hold the federal government accountable.

Speaker, can the minister please tell the House why the Liberals must stop playing politics and finally scrap the carbon tax once and for all?

Thanks to our amazing member from Milton. It’s great to be able to take on this question, especially in the moments after the last question from the Liberal member over there.

Now, I know a leopard can’t change their spots and neither can a Liberal. The Liberals love to tax. Bonnie Crombie, the queen of the carbon tax, is happy to support Justin Trudeau’s federal carbon tax, which is driving up the price for everyone and every business in Ontario. Anybody who gets anything trucked to them is paying more because of Justin Trudeau and Bonnie Crombie’s carbon tax.

We’re not in favour of a carbon tax. We’ve lowered taxes. We’ve lowered fees. We’ve cut red tape. As a result, our economy is thriving with multi-billion-dollar investments from Windsor to Umicore in Loyalist township and into the north. And we’re not done yet.

Well, Mr. Speaker, let’s start off with the CFIB and their quote about the alcohol: “Speeding up the process to allow more Ontario small retailers to sell beer and wine is a very positive move for entrepreneurs and consumers.” It’s so positive for the economy that small craft brewers are going to see an increase of $800 million to $1.2 billion more. This is creating over 7,500 new jobs that didn’t exist before—compared to the Liberals, who signed the worst contract I’ve ever seen in business in my entire life.

It’s all about taxation when it comes to their leader, Bonnie Crombie. That’s all they believe in, is taxing. We don’t believe in taxing. We have never increased a tax in six years. We’ve decreased taxes. We’ve given money back to the people. We’ve given over—

Interjections.

There has been no other Premier in the history of this province that has been committed to more Ontario jobs than this Premier—over 700,000 more people are working today because of Premier Ford and this government’s policy, including building transit across this province.

That member knows how many of those investments are supporting communities all across the north and all across this province—thousands of workers employed because of this government’s plan to build transit all across this province. It’s because of this Premier that we’re building in the north, whether it be the Ring of Fire, Highways 11 and 17, supporting transit workers in Thunder Bay. It’s because of this Premier that we have over $40 billion worth of new foreign direct investment into this province, and because of this vision of this government, $70 billion are being invested into public transit to help support—

I did not hear an answer that responded to the Terrace Bay situation, but I’ll continue.

Speaker, this government is failing to use all the tools at its disposal to keep people working at the Alstom plant in Thunder Bay. American manufacturing contracts must have at least 70% American content, yet you lowered local content rules to a mere 10% and gave the Ontario Line to a Japanese corporation—$9 billion paid by Ontario taxpayers, with not one of the trains built in Ontario.

We have the expertise, facilities, skilled workforce and supply chain. What we’re missing is a commitment from this government to keep people in northwestern Ontario working.

Premier, will you commit to the maximum possible local content in all future contracts?

The parliamentary assistant and member for Ajax.

The next question.

The House will come to order.

Interjections.

Start the clock. Member for Don Valley West.

I cannot hear the member for Don Valley West. Okay. The warnings are starting next time.

Interjection.

Start the clock. The member for Don Valley West has the floor.

The Premier will take his seat. The members will please take their seats.

The member for Ottawa South is warned. The member for Hamilton Mountain is warned. The member for Brampton North is warned.

Start the clock. The next question.

Mr. Speaker, our government is the first government to have in place a minister responsible for mental health and addictions, because we take opioids and all addictions very seriously. Our government is the first government to make investments of $525 million annually and $3.8 billion over 10 years, and to build a system of care.

If you listen and look at the Roadmap to Wellness, you’ll see that there’s a continuum of care that’s being built throughout the province of Ontario to ensure that people are able to access services where and when they need them. That means giving them treatment, low-barrier access to withdrawal management, accessing those services through mobile crisis response teams, through paramedicine that is now being incorporated into that continuum of care and giving people, after withdrawal management, the opportunity to get into treatment and with that treatment then reintegrate with social supportive housing.

We are building a system of care and ensuring that everyone is getting the treatment when and where they need it.

Even a single death is one death too many, and I take those deaths very, very seriously and make sure that we do build these continuums. We’ve invested in opening over 400 beds. That’s 7,000 treatment spots that didn’t exist before this government came to power, and we’re going to continue building a system of care and meeting people where they are.

But we’re not only looking after the individuals who we know are in greatest need in marginalized communities, with investments in the Black community, in Indigenous communities, in remote communities, in rural communities; we’re building mobile health units that are moving around the province, as well, to assist wherever we can in meeting people and giving them the supports they need, regardless of—

Thanks again to the member for Milton. It’s no surprise to anybody from coast to coast in our country, especially here in Ontario, the impact that the federal carbon tax which is fully supported by the queen of the carbon tax, Bonnie Crombie, is having on residents in our province. It’s driving up the cost of everything from groceries to gasoline to home heating.

Now, we’ve taken a different approach here under the leadership of Premier Ford and our team. We’ve cut taxes. We’ve cut fees. We’re keeping energy costs low. You’ll remember not so long ago when the Ontario Liberals were in power, our electricity bills tripled under their watch. It chased jobs out of our province by the thousands—300,000 jobs left our province. Now this morning, I was astonished to hear that Mr. Green, Mrs. Green and the Liberals—

Interjections.

My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care. All seniors in Ontario deserve to be treated with dignity and to receive the quality of care they need. The previous Liberal government failed to invest in long-term-care facilities and services. This led to unnecessary hospitalizations and, in some cases, forced seniors to move to a long-term-care home outside their community. Now, the provincial Liberals are supporting a tax that is burdening existing long-term-care homes with higher costs of operation while making it more expensive to build new homes.

Our government remains focused on helping seniors get the right care in the right place. We’re building more homes faster, and we won’t stop calling on the federal Liberals to scrap the punitive carbon tax. Can the minister please tell the House how our government is improving long-term care for seniors despite facing challenges from the Liberal carbon tax?

At a time when families are already struggling to make ends meet, it’s unfair and unjust for the liberals to keep hiking the carbon tax, just like they did on April 1. Unlike the Liberals, our government will continue to speak up for Ontarians, continue to fight for our seniors and continue to deliver real affordability. Can the minister tell the House what our government is doing to combat the negative effects the carbon tax has on our long-term-care sector?

Thank you to the minister for his response. Our government knows that we can build a growing economy, produce clean energy and make the transition to Ontario-built EVs without jeopardizing affordability for people in this province.

Unfortunately, the federal government is unwilling to listen to provincial leaders and Canadians on this topic. Speaker, when Bonnie Crombie was a federal leader, she was one of the first to support the carbon tax. Now, as the Ontario Liberal leader, she continues to side with her federal buddies on this punitive and regressive carbon tax.

The last thing people need right now is another expense on their bills. Ontarians cannot afford the carbon tax, and they cannot afford the carbon tax queen, Bonnie Crombie. Can the minister please explain how the Liberal taxes are killing businesses and draining Ontario families’ household budgets?

The supplementary question.

The next question.

The next question.

My question is to the Premier. In Toronto, 523 people died from opioid overdoses. Toronto’s public health officer, Dr. Eileen de Villa, had this to say: Overdose is “more than a public health issue—it’s a human tragedy that” requires a response filled “with empathy, care and compassion.” Experts are calling on this government to take an effective and evidence-based approach to addressing the opioid crisis, an approach that includes harm reduction, overdose prevention, along with housing, health care and mental health supports.

My question is to the Premier: How many more people have to die before this government properly addresses our opioid crisis?

This is my question: When will this government take meaningful action to stop people needlessly dying?

Thanks to the amazing member from Burlington. I’ve got to—

Interjections.

But, Speaker, I’ve got to say very honestly, I absolutely hate talking about the carbon tax, and I’ll tell you why—

Interjections.

When will the Liberals finally do the right thing, stand up to Bonnie Crombie, stand up to Justin Trudeau and say, “Get rid of this tax. It’s costing our seniors in Ontario”?

Ma question est pour le ministre des Soins de longue durée. Aux élections de 2022, vous avez dit que Kapuskasing recevrait 60 nouveaux lits de soins de longues durées pour 2025. Ils ne sont pas construits.

J’ai parlé à Extendicare et je vous ai écrit deux lettres. Cette compagnie privée ne voit pas cette construction comme priorité et dit qu’elle ne va pas construire, malgré les subventions du gouvernement. On parle maintenant de deux ans d’attente pour des lits de soins de longue durée.

Monsieur le Ministre, allez-vous construire les 68 lits de longue durée à Kapuskasing, tel que promis?

Votre gouvernement a promis 33 000 nouveaux lits de longue durée d’ici 2025.

Monsieur le Ministre, allez-vous retirer le contrat à Extendicare et le donner à des partenaires qui ont la volonté de construire? Nos citoyens méritent mieux.

Mr. Speaker, we’re doing a lot, and we were doing a lot before the pandemic hit. We were doing that after the carbon tax was tripled—and keeps going up. And what are we talking about? Well, in the latest budget, what did we do? We introduced another $155 million for a construction funding subsidy to offset those increased costs. But we also did more. We increased, to the highest level ever—$353 million, for a 6.6% increase to operational costs. Why, Speaker? Because long-term-care homes are paying more for everything: to transport food to the homes, to transport seniors, to transport food itself, to transport equipment itself. But we went further: a one-time, $202 million in funding, $2,543 per space, in every single one of these members’ ridings, to offset those increased costs, the pressures associated with the carbon tax. I wish we didn’t have to do that, because that could go to better outcomes for seniors.

Stand with us. Stand with our seniors—

Interjections.

This government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, came along in 2018 and said we’re changing that: $10 billion, the biggest capital expansion ever into long-term care; 58,000 new and upgraded spaces; until this point, 18,200 homes built or with shovels in the ground—and more to follow.

Now, the speaker asked about the 68 allocated to Kapuskasing. Our message to Extendicare is very clear: You have an allocation. We expect you to get shovels in the ground. We are here to help support that. As I said, we will be reaching out to the company as well to make sure that that is followed through on.

But I appreciate that the member understands the similar problem that we face across this province. Seniors took care of us; it is our turn to take care of them. Let’s build these homes.

What supports are we talking about, Speaker? In the latest budget passed by our fine finance minister just a few short months ago, there was $155 million for construction funding subsidy in those tough and expensive-to-build areas. But we went further, Speaker: 6.6% increase to level-of-care funding. That’s operational support for things like staffing, for food for residents. We went even further: $200-million one-time funding for deferred maintenance, for capital costs. All of these supports are meant to make it easier to get shovels in the ground.

We understand the pandemic presented challenges. We understand the neglect by the Liberals presented challenges to long-term care. We are going to get over those hurdles, and my message to Extendicare once again is clear: Get shovels in the ground. Let’s get these built in Kapuskasing. In fact, let’s get this built all over our great province. We owe it to our seniors.