Thank you to the member for the very good question. The answer is no, Speaker. In fact, I provided some suggestions to this government about things that would do exactly that—for example, Digital Main Street, and extending that program beyond the current fiscal year. That would help Ontario small businesses grow and expand. Instead of spending money on highways and long-term-care homes through their $3-billion bank that they’re now calling a fund, they could have taken that money, as I suggested, as my caucus suggested, to spend it on things that do help us transition to the green economy; things that will advance our work in innovation in health care, in genomes and in lots of areas where we have the opportunity to create new jobs in the new industries of the future and drive productivity growth for our province.

When I talk to people in the business world, they talk about the concerns that people have in our province, the concerns that capital owners have for our province, when they say people don’t have a place to live, and how can we hire skilled workers here and retain our workers when they don’t have an affordable place to live?

Those are the kinds of things that do not drive economic growth. We need to make sure our institutions are well-funded, that our post-secondary institutions get the money they need to provide the education they need to advance our productivity growth into the future.

Continuing where I left off yesterday—we need a government that invests in young, high-potential companies. An innovation hub told me that a government contract is more valuable than a grant because it gives them credibility when they go to sell in other markets. We need a government that sees that opportunity and does what it can to support these companies. But we’re not seeing that kind of creativity with this government.

Canada’s productivity is lagging far behind other major economies, with the OECD ranking us last for future economic GDP per capita growth amongst advanced economies. Ontario plays a role in that. It has been an economic engine for Canada, and we are not keeping up. We must keep firing on all cylinders to make sure that Ontario does its job to be the roaring engine of the Canadian economy. That could include continuing to drive work to remove barriers in freer interprovincial trade. Ontario should be leading these conversations, yet there was no mention of this opportunity in this latest budget document. As Stephen Poloz, former governor of the Bank of Canada, said at an initiative led by the Minister of Economic Development in 2021, “Politics is the art of the possible. I see no reason why this isn’t possible.” Unlocking this potential would create thousands of dollars per person in GDP in this province.

Speaker, let’s talk about the $4 billion this government has once again put in contingency funds. This government has a predilection for squirreling more away for a rainy day than any other government before it. Clearly, they have no plan to use that money to invest back into our economy and the people of Ontario. Maybe that’s why the Premier said, last year, “The worst place you can ever give your money to is the government.” That $4 billion would go a long way in making a difference in people’s lives. If the government repeals their unconstitutional Bill 124, they could use this money and the millions they are spending to fight it on paying our health care and other public workers more than a 1% raise. It could go toward the construction of new affordable housing, so that we can provide safe housing to the thousands of homeless people struggling across this province. It could go towards restoring the universal basic income pilot. It could help address the school repair backlog and the surgical backlog. It could go towards addressing the shortfall in municipal budgets and helping municipalities large and small to meaningfully address the opioid crisis. It could go towards key transit projects like the Eglinton East LRT in Scarborough or the waterfront LRT. It could go towards restoring OSAP funding to the more inclusionary levels under the previous Liberal government, and to supporting arts and culture to enrich our lives. It could go towards advancing employee ownership trusts, digital health innovation, and helping drive climate resilience and the energy transition.

There’s a long list of unmet needs under this government, and spending our money wisely to support the people of Ontario and drive growth in our economy would help lift everyone up.

Instead, individuals, families, health care and education systems, Ontario productivity and our future economy will continue to struggle under this government’s latest budget. If people can no longer afford to live in Ontario, and this government is not investing in people and real solutions to make Ontario the roaring engine of our economy, why would people choose to stay?

Unfortunately, for a lot of Ontarians, this budget means more housing unaffordability, more suffering from the increased cost of living, and more long wait times for care—more unmet needs.

The families of Ontario will not feel any balance from the budget, and that is nothing to celebrate.

As I mentioned, I do believe that those things drive productivity but that those aren’t the only sectors in our economy that we need to pay attention to. As I also mentioned, those companies in the manufacturing sector will only benefit from that credit if they actually decide to invest, and investing takes confidence. Business confidence is at an all-time low right now under this government.

I think what we need to be doing is focusing on the things that can build up investor confidence, business confidence. That includes making sure that we do have a strong health care system, a strong education system; that we’re investing in our post-secondary education institutions and driving advancement towards a clean economy, a green economy, so that those businesses are here and willing to stay.

I think the member has made a very good point—that, of course, it’s not fiscally prudent. The government is very likely to lose this court battle; it has been deemed unconstitutional. In addition to that, we know that it’s driving workers out of this province. We heard that in the pre-budget consultations. We heard how it’s forcing people who have full-time jobs to seek support in food banks. So we know that it’s not only unconstitutional, but that it’s damaging our economy, and spending probably in the tens of millions of dollars, if it’s consistent with what they’ve spent on other appeals, is really throwing good money after bad.

Many of my constituents in Don Valley West, especially Thorncliffe Park, don’t have a family doctor, much like 1.8 million other Ontarians. Health care workers have been saying repeatedly that they are overwhelmed. On November 24, 2022, the health minister said, “We will continue to work with all health care providers...when they bring forward innovative ideas, and we will continue to fund those innovations....”

I don’t believe Ontarians are seeing that statement in action. Nurse practitioners have put forward an innovative solution that could provide relief, even if temporary: more nurse practitioner-led clinics.

My question, through you, to the health minister: Is the government, in fact, committed to investing in innovative health care solutions, such as nurse practitioner-led clinics now, to address staffing shortages, to help support health care workers and to create more access for Ontarians to get the medical attention they need?

In October, Ontario’s five largest health care unions requested an urgent meeting with the Premier and the health minister to work on real solutions to the crises. As of Thursday, they had received no response. The unions say that “the PC ‘plan’ is failing miserably.” The actions the government has said they’re taking to help people who need care are not working.

When will this government listen to the practical advice of health care workers to help Ontarians who need care now?