Thank you to the member from Waterloo for her remarks this afternoon. She mentioned six painful years, Speaker. Well, if I had their poll numbers, it would be six painful years, colleagues.

As we heard at committee, the Ontario home builders came to committee and presented, and so did OREA and other builders in the province of Ontario. I asked around, obviously, increasing costs of interest rates, costs of labour, construction materials, but obviously also as well, Speaker, the carbon tax. So I asked the home builders if the federal Liberal carbon tax and its increasing year over year is increasing the cost of housing in Ontario. And, Speaker, they said yes. They confirmed that it is causing costs—costs of building materials and labour—to go up.

Does the member from Waterloo agree that the federal Liberal carbon tax is increasing the cost of housing? And will the member from Waterloo call her federal member and ask her to scrap this tax?

Thank you to the member opposite for his remarks. He talked at length about the importance of having women in our workforce, which we all agree is very important here and important to prevent gender-based violence.

On page 108 of the budget we are investing an additional $13.5 million “to enhance initiatives that support women, children, youth and others”—racialized communities—“who are at increased risk of violence or exploitation....”

Can the member opposite please tell this House and those watching why they voted against the budget a few short hours ago?

Thank you to my colleague for his remarks this afternoon.

My question, Speaker, is: When the Ontario Liberal leader, Bonnie Crombie, was the mayor of Mississauga, she had one of the worst housing records in Ontario. Last year, under her leadership, in the middle of a housing crisis, Mississauga actually rejected about 90% of the proposed homes. That’s over 17,000 homes that won’t be built for the people in her community, in a city that only reached 39% of its annual housing targets, Speaker. When it comes to building housing, Bonnie Crombie has failed to get the job done. Does the member opposite agree with us that Bonnie Crombie has failed the people of Mississauga?

Thank you to my colleague for his remarks this afternoon.

I just want to point out that in my riding of Perth–Wellington, there is more livestock than people—probably 10 to 1, if I was to guess. So we are massive, massive exporters of food across the world.

As some members know, I grew up on a dairy farm. Obviously, vets visited that farm often. I remember growing up with Jim the vet and others over the years—helping service our family farm, ensuring our animals were, as the member mentioned, healthy and safe.

I was wondering if you could talk a bit about the vet technicians. One of the first doors I knocked on when I was running turned out to be a vet technician’s, and they mentioned how they wanted to be able to help their community more. So I was wondering if the member could expand on that.

Good morning, and thank you to my colleague for his remarks this morning. He mentioned newcomers to our province. Even in my rural communities in rural southern Ontario, we’re seeing a lot of newcomers—which is wonderful—in our communities, contributing to our economy, coming to work in our province. Newcomers are essential, obviously, to ensuring Ontario continues to grow.

Does the member opposite believe opposing this bill means that the members who are supporting existing practices that keep newcomers from being able to work in the fields that they are trained in—does he believe this is the right decision on their part?

Thank you to my colleague for her remarks. I officially welcome her to the House—I know I’ve welcomed you earlier, but officially now that I have the floor.

I know the official plan changes the member from Kitchener Centre referenced are being made after careful consultations with the affected municipalities. This is what they requested, and I know the member, from her time on Kitchener city council, will understand that process very well.

She spoke of agriculture. Obviously, as she knows, my riding has a lot of agriculture in it. I know she hasn’t had the opportunity yet to vote on a budget bill, but in the last budget, we invested a lot in agriculture and supporting our farmers. We have a Grow Ontario Strategy. Will she support us in calling on the federal government to remove the carbon tax, which the OFA calls for?

Thank you to the member from Ottawa Centre for his remarks this afternoon. He mentioned, who do we work for? Speaker, in this place, we’re members—the member opposite believes that we’re legislators, which we are. It’s a legislative assembly. They’re harping on the fact that, as a Legislature, we’re taking a policy decision to correct a mistake—very weird line of thought. But we’re legislators, everyone. So we can legislate, great, wow—so ironic.

But my question—he’s referring to the report. I appreciate he read the report. My question is—and I’m going to quote—do you support this finding? “I do not support a zero-year revenue horizon for assessing the economics of small volume gas expansion customers. I do not find the evidentiary record supports this conclusion.” This is from Commissioner Duff, in the report you’re quoting.

When will you allow natural gas expansion to places that don’t have it, to get it?

Thank you to my colleague for her remarks.

I know long-term leases on home-comfort appliances like HVAC have been a focus for bad actors in Ontario.

And I know our government wants to ensure, with this legislation, that all Ontarians feel protected when they make a significant purchase for their home.

We remain steadfast in our commitment to reducing costs for terminating long-term leases.

I’m pleased to see that the members opposite, in their remarks this afternoon, have been supportive of these efforts.

I was wondering if the member could elaborate on how this bill will help her constituents, who are in some of those long-term leases, with HVAC and other home-comfort appliances.

Thank you to my colleague from Cambridge for his remarks.

Speaker, I know the weather is getting a little cooler. The snow is starting to fly and has flown in some parts of this province already, and many seniors in my riding have time-shares in warmer climates. They’re obviously complicated contracts, ensuring that our seniors are protected, that they know what they’re getting in to.

Many time-share operators currently don’t offer buyback or take-back programs, so this can leave consumers locked indefinitely into an agreement, and often timeshares have little to no value on the resale market. So if the owner of the time-share falls on hard times, the costs often increase for the consumer, and nothing can be done.

My question to the member from Cambridge is, can the member please tell us what this new legislation will do in order to keep time-share owners accountable and to provide options to consumers when they are investing?