Earlier this year, the Ontario Ombudsman stated in a scathing report that the Landlord and Tenant Board was fundamentally failing in its mandate because of insurmountable challenges, especially for Ontarians trying to access quality, well-functioning, online hearings. In addition to the Ombudsman, we have also heard from anti-poverty organizations, tenant and shelter organizations—many who are here today for the national day of housing—advocating to bring back in-person hearings. After all, it has been three years since the COVID pandemic first appeared. The situation is so bad that not even counter service is available for any low-income or elderly tenants who don’t have computers.

When will this government listen to Ontarians and restore in-person hearings and services for Ontarians who actually need them?

Back in my neighbourhood, Neighbourhood Legal Services is a legal aid clinic which represented 584 matters as of last year. This included the prevention of evictions, protection of affordable housing and a very important, precedent-setting case that involved 200 families at 280 Wellesley Street who took their landlord to the board, seeking a rent reduction for the loss of facilities, compensation for multi-day power outages and water and heat outages, as well as frequent elevator breakdowns and utility blackouts. This was important, and without the legal aid support they would not have been able to get there. This is absolutely critical, Mr. Speaker. Legal aid clinics actually help low-income tenants in Ontario.

Speaker, there was no mention of new legal aid funding in the provincial fall economic statement. My question to the Premier is, will he stand up for low-income tenants by reinstating the 2019 cut of $133 million from legal aid?

On Friday, I held a press conference highlighting the plight of small business owners who took out federal CEBA loans during COVID lockdowns. Toronto itself was the victim of over 400 days of lockdowns—one of the longest in the world. The CEBA loan was essential and allowed small businesses to stay open. But now the federal government is undermining their good work by only extending the forgivable portion of the loan by 18 days instead of the requested year. The federal government is behaving as if businesses should have fully recovered from the pandemic, and we know that they have not; this is simply not true for at least two thirds of those businesses.

The Premier must use his political capital to push the federal government and their counterparts to extend the forgivable portion of this loan until the end of 2024. Without this, thousands of jobs will be lost, as we know businesses will be forced to close. Ontario has already felt the majority of the pain as we’ve seen the loss of jobs and the closing of our main streets.

As we have heard from John Kiru from the Toronto association of BIAs, “Small businesses must be at the table for these decisions. Otherwise we are on the menu.”

The state of small business overall can be best described by the recent dashboards of CFIB—51% are experiencing below sales; 57% are carrying pandemic debt; and an average of $107,000 is what small businesses are carrying in debt.

Speaker, we must do more to support small businesses in Ontario.

Thank you, Speaker, and I will do so with much pride.

The bill enacts the Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics Act, 2023. The act provides that the Standing Committee on Social Policy shall establish an advisory committee to protect Ontario’s people and economy from airborne pandemics. The advisory committee shall make recommendations to the Minister of Health and the Standing Committee on Social Policy to improve Ontario’s infrastructure, regulations and standards relating to indoor air quality in non-residential workplaces and public settings.

Ms. Armstrong moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 87, An Act to amend the Vital Statistics Act to provide for greater access to information related to adoptions / Projet de loi 87, Loi modifiant la Loi sur les statistiques de l’état civil pour prévoir un meilleur accès aux renseignements liés aux adoptions.