I have a petition here titled “End the Public Funding of Partisan Government Advertising.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 2006 the Auditor General of Ontario had been responsible for reviewing all government advertising to ensure it was not partisan; and

“Whereas in 2015 the Liberal government watered down the legislation, removing the ability of the Auditor General to reject partisan ads; and

“Whereas Conservatives have since run ads such as those for the Ministry of Health that were extremely partisan in nature, which cost more than $20 million; and

“Whereas the Conservative government is currently using taxpayers’ money to run partisan ads during the Super Bowl and the Oscars; and

“Whereas history shows that the Conservative government is increasing their spending on partisan ads, totalling nearly $25 million in 2023 compared to $17 million under the Liberal government in 2017;

“Whereas the Conservatives advocate for the reversal of the 2015 amendments when they were in opposition under the Liberals;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“To immediately restore the Auditor General’s authority to review all government advertising for partisan messages before the ads run;

“To pass the NDP’s Bill 176, End the Public Funding of Partisan Government Advertising Act, 2024.”

I wholly endorse this petition and give it to page Bhavna.

I listened intently to the remarks. I’d like to direct my question to the Solicitor General. In his remarks, he talked about the PAWS Act. The PAWS Act is another act that was unanimously supported and is still unanimously supported, but it has come to our attention, as the act has been implemented, that there are some issues regarding the cost of treating animals after they are dealt with through the PAWS Act. We’re not complaining about the PAWS Act—but it has come to our attention, and I was wondering if the Solicitor General would be open to having a discussion about how we could improve the PAWS Act for the farmers, as well.