Thank you for the opportunity to answer this question. The NDP housing platform is on the website. There’s a lot in there. I can’t get into it all in less than 30 seconds, but what I can offer you is this: The province of Ontario used to be in the housing business. You used to fund and support the construction of co-ops. The Mike Harris government actually downloaded the provincial housing portfolio onto the city of Toronto, and now we operate it as something known as Toronto Community Housing. But you left us with a massive capital deficit and reduced operating costs. You’ve shirked off your responsibility.

What I’m saying and what the business community in Toronto is saying is let’s get back to business and build affordable housing for those who deeply need it. Governments have a responsibility, and you have the power to end chronic homelessness. This is something that can be done—and it can be done. Finland has done it, so we can follow their lead.

We have proposed the creation of an Ontario housing corporation that will build and finance about 250,000 units of housing right here in Ontario over the next 10 years. It’s going to be subsidized and it’s affordable. We’re going to need some support, but that support starts by this government putting their money where their mouth is, so therefore we can then go to the federal government and they can take us seriously by saying, “We’re in it for this much money to meet these targets. How can you support us?”

My constituent Sarah has been forced into homelessness with her six-week-old infant. Sarah is trying desperately to find a space in a shelter—any space. She has been calling shelters consistently for weeks and still cannot get placed, not even with a newborn.

Sarah is here at Queen’s Park today to watch this debate. She wants the Premier to know that she will lose her child if she does not have access to safe shelter and housing for baby Mia.

Premier, where will Sarah and her baby, Mia, be sleeping tonight? Will his budget deliver the money for shelters and real affordable housing? Where will she go? When can she get a permanent home? Can she get one by the end of this week?

I rise with great pride to speak on behalf of the people of Toronto Centre.

Last summer, the Big City Mayors’ Caucus asked the Premier for an emergency meeting. They wanted to meet with him to develop an emergency plan to address homelessness, mental health and addictions. The Premier has denied the mayors of the largest cities in Canada that meeting.

To this very day, the Auditor General of Ontario has specified that there is no credible plan and no coordinated strategy in the government’s plan to address homelessness. Why I talk about homelessness is because the Conservative government has also chronically underfunded mental health and addictions services, which are intricately tied to homelessness.

Many of my colleagues have already spoken so eloquently and passionately about the need to increase funding for mental health. They have spoken about it from a human lens, about the human impact. What I’d like to do is to actually share with you the impact from a financial lens.

Speaker, what I wanted to raise with you is that the economic development concerns from my community, which is the largest cultural corridor in the city and the province, as well as the largest financial district in the province—are saying that they need to see this government invest in mental health and addictions services. They have been very clear that if the funding is not there, they will continue to see a decline of the urban core—not just in Toronto Centre, but right across cities across Ontario.

Take, for example, the Downtown Yonge BIA. They have been meeting with government leaders, and at every single meeting they have said that their number one issue is around safety. They want to make sure that their community and visitors to the area—that their perception is that it’s safe, it is clean, it is viable.

We’re already seeing a worsening mental health crisis in Ontario, and largely because of the lack of mental health and addictions support, as well as funding for supportive housing to end chronic homelessness.

Cadillac Fairview, which is one of the largest real estate companies in Canada, recently announced that Nordstrom is leaving. They are closing 13 locations—including 2,500 people who will be laid off. This is going to have a detrimental impact to our neighbourhood. This is going to impact the vitality of our main streets.

Finally, Madam Speaker, the Downtown Yonge BIA has said that, according to their safe-streets strategy, mental health and drug use are both health concerns, and that they require clinical and social interventions. Police enforcement will only result in a revolving-door approach; it is not going to be enough. It is failing, and people need to have their backs—they need to know that this government is willing to invest in them and the mental health supports that they are desperately needing.

Thank you very much to the members for their presentation. I think we can all agree that homelessness has reached a humanitarian disaster, especially in the province of Ontario. We’re seeing encampments grow in big cities as well as small communities and communities of in-between sizes.

And yet we know that the housing crisis that the government has spoken about is going to be addressed through some of their measures, but I believe that the housing crisis that largely remains unaddressed is the affordable housing crisis, so therefore, those who can afford less than the $2,000 average rent that we’re seeing in some areas. I’m curious to know, why is the government cutting $85 million from the homelessness program compared to what they spent last year?

I recognize that the Premier is in his chair today, so hopefully we can get an answer from him today. Nevertheless, my—

Interjections.

Bill 23 does nothing to house a single homeless person in encampments. Bill 23 does nothing to end homelessness or the mental health or the opioid crisis that 29 big mayors have spoken to.

Why is the Premier cutting $100 million from Ontario’s housing program when we need more investments and not less for deeply affordable housing in Ontario right now?

Thank you very much for your remarks. I couldn’t help but really feel that as you were talking about your constituents, they really could have been my constituents. Food bank usage in Toronto Centre for new users has gone up by 60%. We’re seeing students now living in youth shelters because there’s no adequate housing.

With respect to what’s happening within the throne speech and what’s contained in the throne speech: Clearly, there isn’t enough to meet the needs of Ontarians today, but what is actually missing in there? You’ve identified some things. But what are the solutions, and how can we get there with the support of this government? Do you think they would be able to allow us to make those amendments and work collaboratively so we can end the lineups at the food banks, so we can put an end to poverty, so we can put an end to homelessness once and for all?