Today marks 150 days since the start of the war on Gaza. We grieve with everyone hurting from the senseless violence unfolding in the Middle East. We grieve every innocent civilian life loss.

Instead of seeing the freeing of hostages and the capture of Hamas, we have witnessed the brutal massacre of over 30,000 Palestinians, the wounding of over 71,000 civilians, and the collective punishment of Gaza by the Israeli government.

While we condemn the October 7 attacks, the International Court of Justice’s interim measures to prevent genocide cannot wait. This issue might be international, but our local communities’ grief knows nothing of borders or jurisdictions.

I hope that this House and all members can reach out to their federal representatives—and all Ontarians can do the same—and urge them to support the NDP motion scheduled for debate on March 18 that calls on the government to, amongst many things:

—demand an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages, as the NDP has called for since October 11;

—suspend all military trade and technology with Israel and increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms to Hamas;

—as April is too far away, immediately reinstate funding to UNRWA and support the independent investigation;

—demand unimpeded humanitarian aid to Gaza; and

—advocate for an end to the decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories and work towards a two-state solution.

Speaker, “Never again” means never again for everyone.

Good morning, everyone. I have a number of people I’d like to introduce. First of all, I’d like to begin with an introduction to Taylor Pizzirusso, my OLIP intern. Welcome to your House. It’s wonderful to have you here today.

We also have the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, who are hosting their reception this evening at 5 o’clock. I’d like to welcome Sandro Perruzza, Stephanie Holko and Paola Cetares. Thank you for the meeting this morning—very informative; always looking forward to working with you.

I also want to extend a welcome to the Ontario trial lawyers, beginning with president Laurie Tucker, vice-president Barbara MacFarlane, Sandev Purewal and all other board and staff who are here for their reception and lobby day in Queen’s Park; and then finally, to Cathy Orlando from the Citizens’ Climate Lobby.

Thank you very much, everyone. Welcome to your House.

Back to the Premier: As someone who has owned several small businesses, I know first-hand how hard it is to get a small business off the ground. I launched my businesses before today’s challenges of every fast technology change and costly inflation hikes.

Sonja Scharf, a small business owner in my riding, told me, “The Digital Main Street Program helps small businesses like ours offset costs and build an online presence. This program is an extremely valuable asset to small businesses. I can only praise their work.”

Now is not the time for the Premier to pull the plug on Digital Main Street funding, and it’s never time to abandon small businesses in Ontario. Yes or no: Will the Premier reverse course, listen to the small business owners and maintain funding to keep the lights on for the Digital Main Street Program?