Members of provincial parliament have been back at Queen's Park in Toronto this week for the start of the fall session, with a number of issues expected to dominate the conversation for the fall sitting.
From the Greenbelt controversy, to housing, healthcare, affordability and more, the first week back hasn't even wrapped up yet and it's already shaping up to be a busy legislative session in Toronto.
Windsor Tecumseh MPP Andrew Dowie says the people in his riding put their trust and faith in the government for standing by the new acute care hospital, Highway 3, and the NextStar Energy battery plant.
He says the mistakes related to the Greenbelt are being addressed, but the focus behind the plan was to build homes and that remains a key focus for the government moving forward.
"Why the government chose this particular policy, it was to get homes built. We can talk, and talk, and talk about building homes but we actually have to build homes. And there's a timeline when decisions are needed and action is needed. So the fall sessions will undoubtedly include more tools to get homes built," he said.
Meanwhile, Lisa Gretzky, Windsor West New Democrat MPP, says the Greenbelt scandal was a continuous topic this week.
"So there was a lot of questions on that that the government deflected. We tabled a Bill on Monday that would've brought all of that land back to be protected, and the government voted it down, at first reading, which is almost unheard of that it wouldn't even pass first reading."
Dowie says affordability remains top of mind as well with high inflation still causing issues for many people in the province.
He says that covers both the day to day items, as well as affordable housing, and there are already some irons in the fire when it comes to changing certain regulations for building.
"This is a very complicated issue, you ask any builder what's holding them up and it's things related to how things are regulated. For example if you're looking at vacant land and there's a possibility of a habitat for a species at risk well that might derail your project for two years."
Gretzky says that cost of living continues to cause issues for those in the province.
"For people to be able to buy homes, for people to be able to rent if that's what they choose to do. We had a lot of constituents who are facing evictions, or rent evictions because the government has rolled back protections for renters."
He says they need to make sure they're protecting the things they need to protect, but not let other areas get affected.
In the coming weeks, the provincial government will introduce a bill that will set and enshrine the Greenbelt's boundaries, where Dowie says MPPs will select what the boundaries will be as opposed to it being more of an administrative undertaking.
Some other issues he says the province is focused on, reducing red tape both in agriculture and healthcare.
Dowie says the conversion to organics and having organics collection locally is important because it will extend the life of the landfill, and on the healthcare side they'll look to free up the amount of time physicians spend on paperwork.
"These are the important things for our community, affordability, healthcare, certainly transportation and infrastructure. We're going to keep on working to bring more high paying jobs into our community. We're in one of the greatest spots on the entire continent for access to market, and there's no reason why Windsor and Essex County can't be successful in being a true economic powerhouse," he stated.
Gretzky adds that a big priority right now is the cost of living.
"The use of food banks has skyrocketed, food banks are struggling to provide food for people. We're hearing that people can't afford to buy a home, their rent has gone up, the government has cut rent control so rent has skyrocketed, just the overall cost of living."
This week has already seen a few protests around the legislature in Toronto, after a summer break that saw a whirlwind few weeks of developments in the Greenbelt controversy in particular.