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Catherine Fife

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Waterloo
  • New Democratic Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Suite 220 100 Regina St. S Waterloo, ON N2J 4P9
  • tel: 519-725-3477
  • fax: 519-725-3667
  • CFife-QP@ndp.on.ca

  • Government Page
  • Nov/2/23 1:20:00 p.m.

First, I’d like to offer our genuine hope that your mom has a full recovery. I think that that’s very important.

But I will say this government continues to deliver one disappointment after another. The people of this province are facing extremely tough times, Speaker, and it seems to me everyone but this government understands that these are extraordinary times. Cost of living is through the roof. The cost of living has been going up and up and up, and rent and housing prices are simply out of control.

Ontarians are fed up. They’re stressed, and they’re worried. And this government just doesn’t seem to get that. They’re so preoccupied with making their insider land-speculator friends richer, they’re simply not able to see how hard people have it right now.

Just last week in this House, Theresa, 92 years old—being renovicted, considering medical assistance in dying. Those are real people with real issues, and this government is making a choice not to make her life easier. They’re making it harder.

During economically harsh times like these, we wanted to see more from today’s fall economic statement, but it delivered absolutely nothing to shift away from the status quo. All the people of this province got today was ordinary and bland. Nothing in today’s statement met people where they’re at. Nothing spoke to the struggles of the people of this province—ultimately, nothing meaningful to allay their concerns and win back the trust this government has eroded over the past five years.

While we managed our expectations, people thought that this government would recognize that keeping people housed in rental units during a housing crisis should be prioritized. Did this government listen to that? No, they did not. We’ve been calling on this government to reverse the rent control that they removed. That decision has hurt so many people in this province. Housing costs continue to be the biggest drivers of affordability in this province—more than ever, in fact. Rent control is a step they can take right now, today, to help Ontarians. But no, this government did not choose to do that.

People are struggling with high grocery costs and, while CEOs rake in billions, this government is not doing a thing to tackle price gouging. In fact, we have a bill before us which misses the mark entirely.

I mean, housing and food costs are the cost drivers for Ontarians right now and this government couldn’t even mention the word “farmer” in the entire nearly 200-page report. Farmers are an important part of the economy in the province of Ontario.

This is certainly not a government that’s making life easier. In fact, it’s really shocking—it is really shocking, Speaker, that the government has made a choice to not invest in critical services, but they are bloating up their contingency fund to the tune of $5.7 billion in the face of emergency room closures, in the face of a child care crisis, autism—I mean, you name it—emergency off-loads for ambulances.

A fiscally responsible government would not hoard billions of dollars while cities across the province are seeing days without any ambulances. We see historically long wait times at emergency rooms, child care, students—four to five students in a one-bedroom apartment because they can’t afford the rent. This is a big issue in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The people of Ontario know that this government has been in the driver’s seat for five years and, for five years, they have actively chosen to help their insider friends over the people that we’re elected to serve. The contingency fund is downright irresponsible, hoarding money instead of investing in key critical services people rely on like health care, nurses, PSWs, child care, child care workers.

One quick example: 2.1 Ontarians do not have a doctor. The Ontario Medical Association has requested an investment in reducing administrative burden that would free up 2,000 more doctors—19 hours a week they spend on administrative duties instead of seeing patients. This is a solution right before you.

So, Speaker, this government clearly is completely and utterly out of touch with the people of this province, and this is what we are faced with even while an RCMP investigation is criminally investigating this government. Today’s fall economic statement was an opportunity to win back trust, to see their struggles and see people that we serve. This government made a choice not to do that, but don’t fear: The Ontario NDP is on your side. We see you and we’re going to keep fighting for you.

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  • Nov/14/22 1:20:00 p.m.

It is a pleasure to rise on behalf of His Majesty’s official opposition to respond to the fall economic statement.

Budgeting is about priorities. The fall economic statement is a key opportunity to communicate with Ontarians. What the government is communicating today is that they don’t share our priorities of health, of education or of cost-of-living relief for low-income families.

This government’s economic update comes on the heels of a multi-billion dollar surplus. Instead of taking the opportunity to invest in our hospitals, they sit on billions. Amid a health care crisis, which is real, this government has not allocated a single new penny. We have seen cancelled surgeries across the province, ER closures, code reds in all of our communities, long waits. And now, for the first time in the history of the province, there is a shortage of pediatric ICU beds for children. Every single pediatric unit is full.

Just this morning, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health said the province’s health system is facing extraordinary pressures.

Despite the crisis before us, the government is projected to spend $6.2 billion less on health care than what is needed through to 2025.

I’m not sure if the members of the government in the House have seen the pictures of children and babies on ventilators, but I would urge you to pay attention to what is happening in our health care system.

As staffing shortages plague our hospitals, the Ford government touts that they have added 11,000 new health care workers since 2020, but informed reports say 47,000 new health care workers need to be hired per year for the next three years to maintain current service levels. And yet this government stubbornly holds on to Bill 124, which is wage-suppression legislation, which is driving health care workers out of this province. Health care workers are increasingly reporting exhaustion and burnout, and more and more health care workers are considering whole profession changes.

On the education front, over the last few weeks we saw the government lowballing CUPE education workers and imposing a collective agreement on them with meagre increases, well below inflation. The fall economic statement continues this trend of underspending. Comparing the document before us to the non-partisan Financial Accountability Officer’s report from October, the government will be short $1 billion in education through 2024-25. What does that mean for our kids? And what does that say about a government that doesn’t respect education workers and that doesn’t understand the damage that was done to our students and to our system throughout the pandemic?

The cost of living: Instead of addressing the housing affordability crisis, this government has downgraded its projection for housing starts in the coming years and has refused to fully reverse the $100-million cut to the housing program. The government has failed to accelerate public funding for affordable and non-market housing to ensure an adequate supply of new homes. We should not have people in Ontario living in tents. There has to be an investment in truly affordable housing.

There were some encouraging parts, I do want to say. We were absolutely relieved that there were improvements to ODSP, where future increases will be tied to inflation—and increasing the allowable earnings from $200 a month to $1,000 a month. That is a good move and something that we have tried to get the government to pay attention to. But Ontario’s ODSP rates have not kept pace with inflation. An inflationary increase is welcome, but it’s not enough to combat the skyrocketing costs of rent, of heating and of groceries—and the gas tax will not help these folks.

A troubling trend that we have observed in the last two budget cycles, and this is something that I think everyone should be paying attention to in Ontario, is that this government is underestimating revenue—you just heard it—and it overestimates the deficit. This has been observed by public accounts, by the FAO, by the Auditor General—and the government’s own summer budget. For 2022-23, the government is projecting a deficit of $12.9 billion, $7 billion lower than the outlook published in the summer budget, but in the same period, our Financial Accountability Officer has predicted a $100-million surplus. Where is the transparency? Where is the trust on the dollars?

Mr. Speaker, this fall economic statement is disappointing because it does not recognize the current state of affairs that the people of this province are experiencing. It is a missed opportunity to invest in the people of this province.

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