I’d like to thank the member from University–Rosedale for her comments and for pointing out the $1-billion cut that AMO pointed out that this government has enacted through Bill 23, one that—they also promised that they would make municipalities whole and then failed to do so within the budget.

Right now, housing starts are stagnant—and I believe the member from University–Rosedale has called on the need for a public builder.

I want to ask the member, what kind of protections for renters would be responsive to the current moment that Ontarians face right now? What should have been done within this budget?

The NDP want to sit here and talk about affordability, but I just don’t understand how that word can even be in their vocabulary sometimes. They have sat here time and time again and have voted against every single affordability measure that this Progressive Conservative government has put in place. They want the highest carbon tax in all of Canada.

How can you sit there and talk about affordability when everything that you stand for, the ideology that you perpetrate across Ontario, will literally take money out of people’s pockets, will take food off of people’s tables? We’re going to see the carbon tax increase in, what, a week, colleagues—I think, about 6%. And you guys sit here and say, “Oh, the PCs don’t want to put money back in your pocket,” and we’re going to ruin everything. What say you?

Further questions?

Thank you to the member for that question.

We are already seeing the impact of this. We did a look at the projected property tax increases for municipalities all across the GTHA, and they’re seeing an increase of upwards of 7%, 8% in property tax increases at the same time as we’re seeing service cuts and infrastructure cuts.

AMO estimates that, overall, municipalities will lose about $5 billion in infrastructure revenue over the next nine years because of Bill 23, and it’s already impacting housing development and housing starts. Waterloo has a development that they have had to delay because they don’t have the funding to provide the necessary infrastructure to hook that subdivision up to the broader community. So it’s affecting your own goals.

The biggest expense that people have today is housing. When I look at the cost of housing in Ontario, when I look at the cost of rent, the legacy of this government is, it has made it extremely difficult for people to get by. Over the last five years, housing prices have gone up, the price of a mortgage has gone up, the cost of rent has gone up, and that is exactly what is making it difficult for people to find a home, live a good life, pay the bills, raise their children. That legacy is on you.

The government’s response to addressing the housing crisis has been abysmal.

In order to address the housing affordability and housing supply crisis that we have, we certainly need to build 1.5 million new homes in areas zoned for development.

We need to end exclusionary zoning—so going further than the government went in Bill 23.

We need to stabilize rent prices, because 30% of Ontarians’ rent—and they’re paying more on average now, in some cities, than people are paying in a mortgage. They can’t save up enough money for a down payment because rent is so expensive.

We need to clamp down on investor-led speculation—so we build homes for people who intend to live in them.

And we need to establish a public builder to construct affordable housing on public land at cost.

We have long called for a public builder to construct affordable housing on public land at cost. When you look at—

Interjection.

Interjection.

That is a very different approach than what this government is doing, where they’re selling off land in secret contracts to for-profit builders to build luxury condos. That is not the—

I want to thank my colleague from University–Rosedale for her comments. I have the pleasure of working with her on the municipal affairs and housing file.

This government has broken its word to municipalities, their promise to make them whole, with the cuts to development fees. And leaving aside the issue of whether or not those fees should be paid, what are the effects of this government breaking its word? What kind of money would they have to pay to make municipalities whole, and what are some of the effects that municipalities are going to suffer because of that decision to break their word?

The member, during her discourse, stated that the city of Toronto already exempts certain developments from development charges and that those exempted developments were either not-for-profit or low-income developments, if I understood her correctly. If I understood her correctly, she said that the city of Toronto already exempts certain identified homes from development charges. If that is the case, then it would logically follow that the city of Toronto is already implementing part of Bill 23 and agrees with Bill 23. Does that analysis follow? Does the member agree?

Thank you to the member for Nepean.

I’m not exactly sure what sixes and sevens means, so maybe you can explain that in your question.

We are firmly committed to ending anti-Semitism in Ontario. In our riding, we have many shuls that have been targeted with hate crimes, and we have been working with them to make sure they get federal money to increase their security measures. We are fully in support of measures to bring in a comprehensive anti-Semitism curriculum into the school board, and I am proud to support that.

We are hearing from nurses at the Ottawa Hospital—they have been very clear about this. And I’ll make sure to send you Kenyon Wallace’s article in the Star so you can read it for yourself, where nurses have been very concerned that a four-day cancer blitz was reduced to a three-day cancer blitz because they were not able to find the—

The city of Toronto has the Open Door program that developers, non-profits, for-profit, co-op providers can apply to, where development fees are reduced or waived in return for them building non-market housing or affordable housing.

The challenge we have with Bill 23 is that the definition that is being used for “affordable” is not affordable—80% of average market rent is not affordable; 80% of average sale price means a developer can get a 100% development fee discount and build a one-bedroom condo that is sold for $440,000. There is no one on minimum wage who can afford a $440,000 condo; it’s not happening. So the definition of Bill 23’s affordability program is concerning.

The final thing is that the city of Toronto is deeply concerned about Bill 23 and—

That was about as much of a sixes and sevens type of speech I’ve ever heard. In fact, I took great pains to listen each time the member opposite decided to mention the city of Ottawa. I welcome her there to actually see the great work that the Ottawa Hospital is doing, particularly with its partnerships—the partnerships that have been refuted by the members opposite yet have been chastised by our Ottawa Hospital to say that surgical care has improved. As an outpatient each week, I’ve seen that.

She also speaks about the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. I wonder what the member feels about some of the ongoing anti-Semitism that’s happening at Sir Robert Borden High School and if there should be performance standards and if there should be accountability standards placed on our school boards for inaction when it comes to those issues.

I would like to know from the member from Toronto what she thinks about those critical issues—from this member from Ottawa.

It is now time for questions and answers.

I’m proud to be standing up today to speak to the budget bill. It was released last week. Quite frankly, this budget doesn’t meet the moment.

Ontarians are struggling with affordability. When I think about my riding, I think about the food bank line I have to pass on the way to work, on College Street at Spadina, for the Fort York Food Bank. Every time I go by, week after week, it’s astonishing how many people are waiting for food because they can’t make things work anymore.

I think about the people I meet who cannot afford to pay the astronomical amount that they’re paying for rent. Even when they have good-paying jobs, earning $80,000 and up a year, they’re astonished that they still cannot find a place that works for them and their family in my riding that’s affordable, especially with rent upwards of $2,500 a month if you’re looking for a new one-bedroom apartment in our riding.

I also think about the hospitals in my riding as well: Toronto Western, Toronto General, SickKids. When I look at the emergency room wait-lists in my riding and in hospitals across Ontario, I hear that it takes 22 hours. The average wait is 22 hours when you go to the emergency room right now.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this budget does enough to help people. Those examples that I gave explain how people in my riding are not going to be adequately met by this budget.

There was a Toronto Star editorial, “An Ontario Budget Without Vision.” There is a sentence in here that I think really summarizes nicely what this budget is about, and I’m going to read it: “If this budget were a Christmas present, it would be a three-pack of white socks. Not entirely useless. But an exercise in going through the motions.” That’s not a round of applause there, folks.

Especially at a time when we have record inflation of 6.8% and we have a budget that, overall, increases spending by 1%, what we are going to see is cuts in services. On a real level, we’re going to see cuts in services. I want to spend my time going through some of the ministries and some of the sectors to look at the specifics.

The first one that I want to touch on is health care. Health care funding is essentially the same as last year. There’s some COVID money that you’ve stored on to and you’ve put onto the budget for this year, but essentially funding is the same as last year. That is especially concerning given that emergency rooms across Ontario are closing on weekends—that’s unheard of; I’ve never heard of that before—and when we’re seeing that wait time in emergency rooms, and we’re also seeing, according to the Financial Accountability Officer, thousands of people waiting for necessary surgery.

I’ve had a lot of parents reach out to me in my riding, because I have SickKids. I’ve spoken to the CEO of SickKids and their staff there to get an understanding of what kind of time period people are waiting there. We have 12,000 kids who are waiting for necessary surgery, and what is also concerning is that many of these children are waiting for surgery so long that they’re beyond the point where they can get best outcomes. I can’t imagine the stress that a parent would be going through to know that their child has moved beyond the window, where they’re not getting their surgery in a time frame where their child can reach their full potential and fully recover. That’s extremely concerning.

What’s also concerning in the budget is that there is a decision to direct more money to for-profit health clinics. I’m deeply disturbed by that. The main reason why I’m disturbed by that is because I have seen what happens when you bring in a two-tiered system, a public health care system and a for-profit health care system that healthier and wealthier people can access. I saw it in Australia, and it is not something to replicate.

We’re also seeing the impact of a two-tier health care system already in the situation that’s happening in the Ottawa Hospital, where operating rooms are being rented out on the weekend to a consortium of doctors for orthopedic surgeries. We are hearing from nurses that the decision to rent out those rooms is resulting in an exodus of nursing staff time going to staff those operating rooms on the weekend, and it has led to a reduction in the number of cancer surgeries that can be done during regular times at the Ottawa Hospital on weekdays, because the private surgery clinic can pay nurses a lot more, and they’re walking with their feet. I’m very concerned about that model because it does seem like there are some unintended consequences with this decision to create two-tiered health care. I encourage the Conservatives to look into that, investigate and make up your own mind on that, because it is deeply concerning. What are the guardrails that are going to be set up to ensure that the kind of issue we’re already seeing does not expand and continue?

When it comes to mental health, I do see that there is $425 million dedicated to community mental health care and addictions. Personally, I see that as a good sign. I would like more, but that is a good sign. The reason why I see it as a good sign in my riding is because we have a horrible opioid crisis in our riding; we have people dying and overdosing in washrooms, Tim Hortons, McDonald’s, and it is extremely concerning. These people need help. It is a step in the right direction. It’s not enough, but it’s a step in the right direction that there is an acknowledgement that funding for mental health needs to increase.

Then there’s transit. When it comes to operations and maintenance, I am very worried about the provincial government’s decision to not continue to fund operating funding in this budget. There was a decision by the federal government and the Ontario government to provide emergency operating funding during COVID, and that was a very good decision, because when operating funding and maintenance funding is provided, it provides this additional revenue when ridership is down, and it ensures that our buses run frequently and our trains run frequently. Now that that money is no longer there, what we are going to see is an increase in the cuts that we’re already starting to see in Toronto. In my riding, we are going to see less service on line 2, which many of you might take to get to work. We’re also going to see cuts to Queen Street and Dufferin Street.

When you look at the cuts that are happening with the TTC, what’s most disturbing is that the worst cuts are happening in the marginalized areas, the lower-income areas, the racialized areas—it’s bus service. That’s a shame, because the lines this government is looking at funding—the Ontario Line, the Yonge line extension—are not going to be in service for upwards of 10 years. What’s going to happen in the meantime? How are we going to build the city that we need, where people can get from A to B at a cheap price and quickly, if we’re not funding operations and maintenance? It’s the lifeblood of our city, and I’m very disappointed by that decision there.

Then there’s the issue of housing. I’m hearing the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing talk on and on and on about how there is an additional $202 million each year for two years for homelessness prevention and Indigenous supportive housing, but do not think for a second that this is new money. When you look at the budget and you go to how much money the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing was allocated in 2022-23, and you compare that to how much they were allocated in 2023-24, you see a $124-million cut. For all practical purposes, municipalities are going to be seeing less funding for supportive housing, affordable housing and shelter services than they did in the previous year, and that is at a time when homelessness is on the rise. You know it. You see it. I’m sure some of you are living in towns where you are seeing the first encampment you have seen in decades, because people can’t afford housing anymore. So it is deeply concerning that there is a cut there.

This is also happening at a time when the Conservatives are moving ahead with Bill 23, which is hampering and curbing municipalities’ ability to require developers to pay their fair share for the partial cost of infrastructure, to pay for what is necessary for the new people who are coming in. Affordable housing, co-op housing—you like to say all this is about that. The vast majority of the cuts in development fee revenue will not be coming from co-operative housing and non-market housing, because most of that housing already gets a massive development fee discount. The city of Toronto has an Open Door program where if a developer is going to be building truly affordable housing, they already get their development fee waived.

The bulk of the cut is going to be taking place with the new market housing that is being built, especially on park services and on the thousand-dollar development charge that’s allocated to housing services and shelter services. I’m urging this government to look at that, because infrastructure is necessary for Ontario to grow, and you are curbing municipalities’ ability to build the infrastructure that is necessary to house new people and make our cities function well.

The final piece I want to talk about is about education. The Conservatives, with this budget, like to say that there has been a historic investment in education. That is not true. The funding increase that has been allocated to the education budget is overwhelmingly a result of the $2.3 billion in federal money that is earmarked to child care, which you have merged into the education budget, then claiming it’s your money and it’s all about education JK to SK. It is not true. It is federal money, and it is going to child care.

We know the full extent of the cuts when we look at what school boards are saying are going to be the cuts. School boards across Ontario are developing their budgets right now, and what we are already seeing with the school boards that have developed their budgets and are projecting into 2023-24 is that they are experiencing cuts. The Toronto District School Board is estimating a $61-million shortfall, with a loss of 522 staffing positions. The Toronto Catholic District School Board is also estimating a shortfall, and the Ottawa-Carleton school board is also estimating a shortfall.

I am very concerned that if this government does not address and increase the Grants for Student Needs funding, then our kids are not going to get the support they need in the classroom that will allow them to reach their full potential.

These are the comments that I have to make about the budget today. I’m looking forward to your questions.

Let’s hear about it.

I’m going to be splitting my time with the MPP from University–Rosedale.

Last Thursday, the government dropped the budget. I was there. The delivery of this finance minister was powerful. It was incredible salesmanship. I’ve heard him speak like that. When I’ve heard him speak like that, it was usually about auto insurance companies and the PR he does for them. Because usually, when I ask questions about it, he still had that level of love and salesmanship when he sold that budget.

I was so inspired that on Friday of last week, I flew all the way up to Thunder Bay, and I thought I would take a trip of my Ontario, our Ontario, and experience that Ontario myself.

I visited my good friend in Thunder Bay, and the first thing that I saw—and this is not something that I can speak happily or brag about, but I saw a 60% increase in food bank usage. And it was very difficult.

From there, I went and visited my friend in Mushkegowuk–James Bay. I took Highway 11. I had to wait; there was a 48-hour road closure. I wanted an EV car, actually. I forgot to mention that, because the first thing I did when I arrived was try to purchase an EV car. But I couldn’t, because you know the credit the government got rid of was for EV vehicles some years back. I couldn’t afford it. There was no talk about increased charging stations. I’m not sure how I would have got there in the first place. But I went along. It was dangerous. I was white-knuckling as I drove two-lane highways.

And then, I went to visit my good friend in Sudbury, where the first-ever tent city is happening since the establishment and the founding of Sudbury itself. That’s what happened.

From there, I got on the 400, eventually made my way through Toronto and went all the way out to Hamilton, where services for people facing mental health challenges—multiple service providers were cut, doors closed because they didn’t have the funding that they needed.

From Hamilton, I came all the way back to downtown Toronto. I visited people living in a condominium where this new family had just got the keys for their brand new condominium unit. As the critic for consumer protection, this is something of big interest to myself and all of us here on the NDP side. After making that first purchase of a home and a condominium, they faced a 50% increase in condominium fees. In this time and age, they’re struggling.

Meanwhile, their neighbour, a friend in another building actually, is fighting down their condominium board over an issue, and they can’t afford it. The court costs are through the roof. They’re hoping that this government will actually expand the Condominium Authority Tribunal, so that they can get fair and quick justice, but they’re still waiting.

In fact, the Auditor General has a series of recommendations going back from a bill tabled in 2015 that could fix condominiums here in this province and what some of the condominium owners are facing. We’re still waiting for those to be proclaimed.

From downtown Toronto, we came up to my community, Humber River–Black Creek. I spoke to an ODSP recipient—and at this point I do want to pause and I want to recognize and congratulate the new minister for children and social services. I know that he speaks powerfully and I know that he has got a very tough role to fill. But I want to tell the minister and I want to tell everybody here about an ODSP recipient in my community. Imagine he’s listening to the budget. He wasn’t inspired like I was, because he heard he was getting maybe a 5% increase—5% in this difficult time; imagine that.

As I mentioned earlier, and this is very terrible to hear, there are people facing disabilities and challenges who are considering medically assisted suicide. That is how difficult it is. That is how terrible it is right now, and so it is a tough file, and I hope that he will be able to talk to the Premier and to all the people on his side about the fact that 5% doesn’t go far enough. It really doesn’t go far enough. We need to double those rates, so I’m hoping that he will be able to work through and make that happen.

From my community, I decide I’m going to go visit my good friend over there in Brampton. To get there, I would consider taking the 407, but I can’t afford it—the 407, maybe not just the most expensive highway in Ontario, maybe not just the most expensive highway in Canada, maybe not even in North America or the world, but in the entire visible universe. That’s what we’re dealing with. And it’s a highway, may I remind this government, that last year owed this government a billion dollars, and the government said, “Do you know what, 407?”—because it was part of the contract, and we should respect those contracts—“We don’t need your money. We don’t need that money. Keep the money. A billion dollars? Don’t worry about it.” Did they actually say, “Hey, do you know what? We won’t ask for that billion—maybe let’s go revisit and modify some of those contracts, because drivers are getting gouged”? They didn’t do that. They said, “Keep the money.” I get it; it’s their friends.

And so, where did I end up? I came to visit my dear friend in Brampton, where, under this government we are seeing in this province of Ontario, with some of the safest drivers in all of Canada—literally, when you look at the drivers, they are the safest; our roads, relative to all of Canada, some of the safest—that we are paying the highest rates. And so I go to visit my friend in Brampton, under this government, that is absolutely refusing to stand up to these auto insurance companies that, during the end of the pandemic, made 27% in profits.

And yet, imagine: It’s always the same story when they reach out to the government. They sit around, probably in boardrooms, and they work backwards: “What are we going to charge people? Come up with ideas. What are we going to say?” It’s happening. It’s literally happening: 27%. And then, when they go to their shareholders, they say, “Invest with us. We’re making so much money, hand over fist.” But when they talk to FSRA and they talk to the government, they say, “Oh, no, do you know what? We can’t afford this. It is really tough for us.” It is the same story.

In the little bit of time that I have left: This budget, delivered with the gusto that this finance minister delivered it with, seems to be completely out of touch. It is not understanding a moment in time where each and every one of us—on a serious note, the members of our community, everyday regular families—are struggling under this affordability crisis. And what we saw in that budget, whether by design or perhaps simply forgotten, was that the people in our communities—

A quick answer is: Each one of you, support this budget. That’s how we’re going to build a stronger Ontario.

This question is for our great member from Mississauga–Malton on building Ontario’s economy. Launching the new Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit would provide a 10% refundable corporate income tax credit to help local manufacturers lower their costs, invest in workers, innovate and become more competitive; and also advance Ontario’s Critical Minerals Strategy, which supports better supply chain connections between industries, resources and workers in northern Ontario and manufacturing in south Ontario; and also improve competitiveness by planning to enable an estimated $8 billion in cost saving and support for some Ontario employers in 2023; and also talk about attracting over $16 billion in investment by global automakers and suppliers of EV batteries and battery materials to position Ontario as a global leader on the EV supply chain.

The list can go on and on. Can the member explain more about—

We have time for a last question.

Interjection.

For a quick answer, the member for Mississauga–Malton.

We’re going to move to further debate.

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

Report continues in volume B.

Je vais répondre à la députée : non, ça ne répond pas à ma question. C’est parce qu’on a des communautés qui sont directement affectées, soit qu’elles sont à l’amont—puis je sais qu’elle comprend bien le français, ce qui fait que je vais lui parler en français—de la rivière. Parce qu’on sait tous que l’eau coule vers le nord.

Marten Falls est dans ma communauté. Je ne suis pas après de dire que les communautés autochtones sont contre le développement économique; au contraire, elles ne le sont pas. Mais ça revient à ce que ton collègue a dit : il faut protéger leurs territoires ancestraux, qui sont très fragiles. On a une communauté, comme Neskantaga, qui dit non. On a des communautés, comme Grassy Narrows, où ils ont mis des moratoires. On a Kashechewan, qui a mis un moratoire, et Fort Albany, qui a mis des moratoires. Tu as des territoires ancestraux qui viennent tous dans la même région. C’est beau, le chemin, mais le problème, ils disent, c’est que l’environnement—que l’étude environnementale était trop étroite. Ils veulent que ce soit beaucoup plus agrandi pour répondre aux questions des Premières Nations.

Si vous n’avez pas le consentement de ces communautés-là, allez-vous poursuivre pareil, oui ou non? Une simple question.

I thank both members for their submission and I was very interested in the member from Mississauga–Malton’s discussion on a targeted approach. He mentioned immigration. He mentioned different places to support people and businesses to grow. Could he emphasize on those points and explain how that’s part of a plan to build?

Thank you to the member for the question. You know, our government doesn’t focus on hypotheticals; our government focuses on facts. And the reality is that our government continues to support the environmental assessments for the Marten Falls community access road project, the Webequie supply road project and the northern road link project, which is led by the Marten Falls First Nation and Webequie First Nation.

The terms of reference for the provincial environmental assessments for the Marten Falls community access road and the Webequie supply roads were approved in 2021. The terms of reference for the northern road link were approved in March 2023. I hope this answers the member’s question.

Madam Speaker, our government is committed to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and communities by focusing on initiatives that promote economic prosperity and create a better future for everyone across the province. And that’s why we have terms of reference for the provincial environmental assessments for the Marten Falls community access road and the Webequie supply road, which were approved in 2021, and the terms of reference for the northern road link was approved in March of 2023.

I want to thank the two members from Carleton and Mississauga–Malton for their great debate today.

With the ambitious plan that we have to build 1.5 million homes in the province of Ontario, Ontario needs the workforce to build the infrastructure and homes of the future. How will this budget help to build that with the workforce that we need?

First of all, I want to say thank you to the member opposite for the question. By the way, my riding is Mississauga–Malton. Our minister from Milton is doing an incredible job, so I’ll let him take care of Milton.

Madam Speaker, talking about—and I truly say yes when I talked about that I want to say thank you to our Indigenous community for taking care of this land for thousands of years. I actually had an opportunity to meet this afternoon the members from Taykwa Tagamou Nation. When they were talking about building a centre of excellence—I think it’s a great idea. When it comes to supporting the First Nations, the Indigenous community, this government will stand shoulder to shoulder. That’s why we’re investing in the Skills Development Fund with an additional $75 million. We are investing $224 million for the new capital stream so that we can build those kinds of centres of excellence to support all Ontarians, including our Indigenous community.