My question is for the Premier. Speaker, the provincial debt is higher than it has ever been, almost $100 billion in five years. We have historic deficits. Government spending? By all accounts, it’s out of control. Even the Premier’s office budget has more than doubled in five years. That gravy train? Well, it just keeps on rolling.

Meanwhile, the services that Ontario families depend on? Well, they’re failing, yet it’s this Premier’s newest priority to spend $1 billion to get beer and wine in corner stores a little more than a year earlier than planned.

I’m not exactly sure what planet the Premier thinks that this would all be okay on, so maybe the Premier could explain to us—Speaker, through you—who exactly benefits from his billion-dollar boozedoggle.

Meanwhile, 2.3 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor and that number keeps going up. Emergency rooms are closing. Rural hospitals are closing down. Seniors are waiting and not getting the care they need to live in their own home. And every day—every day, Speaker—more and more Ontario families are having to use their credit card instead of their OHIP card to access basic care that they need.

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier. We all know that we have the most expensive Premier’s office in the history of this province, by far. The Premier has doubled the budget and tripled the number of staff that have six-figure salaries. That’s right, Speaker, tripled. Their average salary is more than double the median family income. That’s right, Speaker, double the median family income.

At a time when Ontario families are just struggling to keep their heads above the water, this Premier and his office, they’re swimming in gravy. Speaker, through you, when will this Premier stop the gravy train that is his office?

Last week, I sent the Premier a can of gravy to symbolize the runaway gravy train that is his office, more that than doubling his budget to $6.9 million, going from 20 to 48 people on the sunshine list.

The average salary of the Premier’s sunshine staff is twice that of the median family income in Ontario—not individual; family income. For those families, life is more expensive than under any other Premier in Ontario’s history. So Speaker, how is the Premier’s runaway gravy train helping Ontario families at all?

The truth is, the Premier’s gravy train is leaving Ontario families behind. Every day, more and more families are forced to use their credit card instead of their OHIP card. Rent is skyrocketing because there’s no real rent control. Small landlords are being bankrupted by delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board, and now we hear that the Premier wants to start charging people for testing their well water.

So, Speaker, when will the Premier and his office stop the gravy train and stop leaving Ontario families behind?

Interjections.

While we’re on the subject of red tape, do you think that the fact that the Premier doubled his office budget in just five years and increased the staff from 20 to 48 on the sunshine list—that that just doesn’t add more red tape? I’d ask the member: If he wants to stop the gravy train, it’s starting from the Premier’s office.

Interjection: Choo-choo.

In this budget—well, let’s just say there’s no Ontario government that has spent so much, borrowed so much, added to the debt so much and failed to address the issue of the day, the most important issue: affordability.

There are no measures in this budget to protect renters who are facing massive rent increases across this province, in all of our communities. The dream of an affordable home just got dimmer in this budget; there’s nothing there to give people hope.

Two million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor, and now they’re having to use their credit card instead of their OHIP card to get primary care.

So it’s evident that the Premier is able to point his finger, but he can’t lift a finger to help Ontario families facing an affordability crisis. My question to the member is: Why do you think that is?

Yesterday’s budget’s meagre increase to health care in this province amounts to a cut. That has left the two million Ontarians without a family doctor without hope. They need access to primary care. Under this Premier, too many families are now having to face using their credit card instead of their OHIP card to access basic primary care services.

The Premier knows this is happening, and he’s just watching. By all accounts, that’s just fine with him. This Premier is really ready to point a finger but never able to lift one.

I’ll ask the Premier again: The Premier had an opportunity to actually take some measures to address the affordability crisis, so why didn’t he?

Interjections.

My question is for the Premier.

The affordability crisis is hitting Ontario families hard. The price of everything has gone up—groceries have gone up, rents have gone up, interest rates have gone up. The price of hydro, folks, is higher than it has ever been.

Families work hard every day, and they feel like they’re falling further and further behind. They’re looking for something to make their lives just a little bit easier. And when they see this budget, they can’t find anything to make their lives just a little bit easier—in fact, there are things that the government isn’t doing in our schools and in health care that’s actually making life harder for them.

Instead of making people’s lives just a little bit easier, this government is actually making life harder. Just why is that?

If you own lots of land in the greenbelt, guess what, folks? The Premier’s got your back.

Speaker, through you: Why is this government abandoning Ontario’s families in an affordability crisis?

Thank you very much, Speaker, and to the member. Families are struggling. The price of food is going up. Gas is going up. Hydro is going up. Rents are going up. Interest rates are going up. In this budget, there’s nothing in there that says to the families, “Here’s that little bit of help to make your life easier.” As a matter of fact, in things like education, the government is making their lives harder. If you have a child with special needs that are not being met at school, guess what? The message is, you’re on your own. If your child is struggling with school and can’t get the help that they need, here’s the message—

Can you explain to me why the Working for Workers Act doesn’t actually work for workers?

Because you’re not actually taking care of those things that matter most to families. You’re cutting education when we know we need more. What I said about children struggling in schools and your message being, “You’re on your own”—that’s it right there.

If your mom is trying to get home care, you’ve done nothing to really address the health care human resource crisis. As a matter of fact, your government supported Bill 124, which just made it worse, and now you want to set up a parallel for-profit system to compete for the staff that hospitals can’t get right now. That’s why I can’t support this budget.

Your message to Ontarians—to Ontario families—is, “You’re on your own. On health care, on education, on the environment, you’re on your own, folks. We’re not doing anything to help you.” Even the Ontario Child Benefit that you could have increased—as a matter of fact, the government on this side did—you guys can’t even see fit to increase that by $50 a child a month while families are struggling to put food on the table. That’s why I can’t vote for this budget. I won’t—

No, I don’t see that. This government had an opportunity to create something called the Ontario housing corporation so that we could actually build affordable housing for people. But this government’s solution to the housing crisis is to actually give away the greenbelt to people who are already doing quite well so they can do even better, and they won’t be able to build affordable housing out there. What we need is housing inside our urban areas, inside our small towns, rurally—everywhere.

It’s a crisis. Bring back real rent control on those new-build units. There are bidding wars. People are couch-surfing. Families can’t get a place to live. It’s not in this budget. The message is, “You’re on your own, folks.”

Folks, if you listen up, you might hear this. If you listen to the people of Ontario, this is what you might hear. They want you to make their lives just a little bit easier by doing things like increasing the Ontario Child Benefit to help those struggling low-income families, or maybe a tax credit to help kids get into recreation or sports at school, or maybe a transit tax credit—something small. But no, it’s not there.

Ontario’s families ain’t feeling the balance, folks over there. All they want is for you, for their government, to make their lives just a little bit easier. And by not addressing those things in this budget that families depend on, like their schools, like their hospitals, like getting a family doctor, the cost of rent, the cost of food, getting your mom home care or simply support for families that are struggling, this budget isn’t making families’ lives easier; it’s making it harder—because making their lives just a little bit easier means a whole lot to those people out there who are struggling.

I want to note that the member is reminding us of the Premier’s statement that the worst place you can send your money to is government. I guess he doesn’t fully understand that Ontario’s school system, our schools, our colleges and our universities have made us great, that our publicly funded—

Interjection.

But in this budget, it’s very clear that the message is, if you have a child with special needs in school and their needs aren’t being met, you’re on your own. If they’re having challenges with mental health, you’re on your own. If they’re just simply falling behind, the government is saying to you, “You’re on your own.” If you need paid sick days, you’re on your own. If you’re a senior looking for eye care, you’re on your own.

My question is, what does the overdependence on contingencies and reserves in this budget mean to Ontario families?