SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Hon. Michael Parsa

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Suite 201 13085 Yonge St. Richmond Hill, ON L4E 3S8 Michael.Parsaco@pc.ola.org
  • tel: 905-773-6250
  • fax: 905-773-8158
  • Michael.Parsaco@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page
  • May/8/24 11:10:00 a.m.

Good morning and thanks so much for the question. Mr. Speaker, I’m very appreciative of the Premier and our government and our partners who are doing great work with Community Living across the province here, which is why we backed them up with support.

We are investing more than $3.4 billion on developmental services this year. That, Mr. Speaker, is over a billion dollars more than the previous government was doing. Now, why do I mention that? It’s because the NDP held the balance of power for three years. You’ve been here long enough to know what you can do when you hold the balance of power. They could have forced the Liberals to invest more in amazing partners who are doing great work across our province. They didn’t. They failed the people of this province. It took this Premier, it took this caucus to stand up for people with developmental disabilities across the province and say, “We will have your back,” just as we have since we formed government.

Interjections.

In fact, I will tell you what they have done. They have voted against every single measure that we have put forward to make sure that the service providers have the tools and resources to serve the people of Ontario. This member has been here long enough, but of course, when the cameras are running, you’ll hear the NDP get up and talk a big game, Mr. Speaker—

Interjections.

Interjections.

247 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border
  • Mar/20/24 11:20:00 a.m.

I thank my honourable colleague for the very important question. Let me make it very clear: We said it, and the Premier has been very clear that we will make sure that no one in Ontario is left behind. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we are investing over $1.5 billion in the sector, to make sure that everyone receives service. Just to put it in perspective, that is $1 billion more than the previous government was investing, over half a billion dollars more than when we formed government, in supportive living for those who require service.

The previous government simply did not do enough. That wasn’t good enough for this Premier. That wasn’t good enough for this caucus. We said that we were not going to leave anyone behind. We are going to be there to provide them with the service. We’ve been there. I have visited literally every Community Living service, including the one in the member’s riding, to make sure that they know they have a partner in this government, and we will not abandon them like the previous government did. We will—

The member is talking about investment. I’d be more than happy to repeat that. Mr. Speaker, we’re investing over $3.7 billion in the developmental services sector this year. That is a billion dollars more than when we formed government. The member talks about housing. I’d be more than happy to repeat that, Mr. Speaker: Nearly a half a billion dollars more is being invested in supportive living for people in this province who rely on the housing.

And no, we’re not going to stop. We’re going to make sure that every single person in this province who relies on supports and services gets them, because before, in the previous government, they simply weren’t getting that. That’s not good enough for us. We’ll continue to fight for them. We’ll sure that they have the support they need.

337 words
  • Hear!
  • Rabble!
  • star_border