I’m proud to say that one of Canada’s hip-hop artists is here: MC Mohammad Ali from Mississauga. My brother, it’s so good to see you here. Thank you for gracing us with your presence today.

I recognize the member from Mississauga–Lakeshore.

For the love of humanity—honestly, you can’t make it up. The member from Mississauga–Lakeshore went on at length about how the Auditor General approved these ads. The reason she approved those ads is because she had no choice, because the Liberals watered down those rules and basically gave the Auditor General no power to call out partisanship.

Your party, not that long ago, was aligned with us. That’s why we brought forth this motion today. It was actually today’s Deputy Premier who brought forward this motion when the Liberals basically put the screws to the people of this province. And now you are fully in bed with the Liberals on partisan advertising. Well, there you go.

I don’t even know how you say it with a straight face. To my friend from Mississauga–Lakeshore: I don’t understand it—because this is exactly what the auditor warned about. This is what she said: “Ontarians could end up paying for partisan political advertising under changes the Liberal government is proposing.” She said this would “gut the 10-year-old act”—which it has done.

“They would place her office ‘in the untenable and unacceptable position of approving ads because they conform to the narrow requirements of the amended Government Advertising Act, but may be clearly partisan by any objective, reasonable standard.’”

That is the Ontario that we are in right now. That is happening here in Ontario—just like that advertisement.

She went on to say, “Under the proposed amendments such an ad would no longer be considered partisan, although most reasonable people would conclude otherwise, yet it is Ontario taxpayers who would have paid for them.”

Do you know why this is so painful for so many Ontarians today? It’s because their lives are so hard. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. You’ve removed rent control. People are getting renovicted, demovicted. It is a precarious place for the vast majority of Ontarians today.

I want to also say to the member, on his defence of this indefensible policy, that we are not talking about public service announcements about changing your tires; we are talking about putting forward inaccurate information to the public, and then adding insult to injury by saying to them, “You must pay for this. You have no choice in the matter.”

It’s so very obvious that—perhaps it is just this age-old adage that power corrupts, because when the PCs were over here, they were mad as hell about this policy. In fact, I’ve got some quotes that I will be sharing with you.

I totally agree with the Globe editorial which says that these partisan advertisements that the taxpayers are footing the bill for erase the line between party and government. Isn’t that the truth?

And when you’re watching the Super Bowl and you’re watching how this image of Ontario—where people have access to doctors; if your child has autism, you have a therapist; or if you drive a car, you’re not stuck on Highway 7. I just heard in an advertisement this weekend that the government is building Highway 7—well, someone should tell the people who are supposed to be building Highway 7, because I have to tell you, nothing is happening in that regard. Even when the Minister of Transportation came to Waterloo, a reporter, Terry Pender, said to him, “Aren’t you embarrassed to be here making an announcement about another announcement?”

Also, I heard that two-way, all-day GO service—we’re getting service every 30 minutes, except it stops at Brampton.

So you can imagine the people who have to bear witness to such a waste of tax dollars—because there is no redeeming quality in these advertisements. They don’t even make people feel good in Ontario, especially when you look at the stats around how one out of every four persons who goes to a food bank is a child. That is what’s happening in Ontario. Some 600,000 women are waiting for mammograms. That’s what’s happening in Ontario, not this glossed-over version of—this version that exists, I think, in the Premier’s head.

The other advertising campaign that went on is Ontario Is Getting Stronger, and they did this just before the last election. So they’re using taxpayer dollars to basically campaign on. The Auditor General, prior to this gutting of the act, would have shut that down, because it undermines our democracy and our trust in government. And these are serious issues. So that Ontario Is Getting Stronger—it always made me quite angry, actually, when I was watching it. We know that Galen Weston is getting stronger. We know that the insurance sector is getting stronger. Do you know what’s not, though? The needs of children who are in our special education classes. They’re suffering. So this is a very serious disconnect, and it goes back to the way that this government operates, I would say—like it is a sticker business, like they can do whatever they want.

And it’s disappointing to see colleagues we worked with shoulder to shoulder on this very issue, on this bill. They supported the bill when the now Deputy Premier brought it forward in the last session, but when the Minister of Economic Development—when he was confronted with this abuse of tax dollars for partisan purposes, this is what the member from Nipissing said: “While this government continues to make life unaffordable for Ontario families, they’re advertising on the taxpayer’s dime. It’s simply unacceptable.” We totally agree. He went on to say, “It’s time for the Wynne government”—you can just replace “Ford” in there—“to end this shameless self-promotion on the taxpayer’s dime and focus on addressing their years of waste, mismanagement, and scandals.” When you know your history, you can sometimes predict your future. And that sounds a lot like what’s actually going on right now in Ontario.

When the Deputy Premier, actually, went on to say and brought forward this legislation—it was part of the debate at the time. She said that her bill, which is our bill now, was aiming to reverse the Liberals’ 2015 changes that she said watered down the Auditor General’s oversight. She noted that the Liberal government justified introducing tougher rules by slamming the former Progressive Conservative government’s use of taxpayer money on partisan advertising, in 2004.

So this is a long-standing issue, with both Liberals and Conservatives trying to out-scandal each other on advertising.

She went on to say, “This issue is a total flip-flop from the Liberal members opposite.” I feel like I’m in a theatre of the absurd right here. “What’s that line? ‘That was then; this is now.’ What has changed, Speaker? It appears that the Premier will only maintain those principles when they are convenient.”

And aren’t we exactly in this spot—and I think our agricultural critic, this morning, really posed a very important question: Where are your principles now?

So is it a question of the government saying, “Do you know what? We’re going to be a little bit different than them. Our advertisements may be a little cheaper. Maybe they’ll be even glossier”? But this is a disconnect from what the people of this province are experiencing. The amount of money is staggering.

My colleagues are going to talk about some specific issues as it relates to Metrolinx.

At the end of the day, these ads serve no public good. We take an oath, as legislators, to come to this place to try to better the lives of Ontarians, and giving them cheap commercials with a glossy theme and a snappy tune is an abdication of the responsibility and dedication to the people of the province who we’re elected to serve.

Shame on this government. We will never stand with you as you continue these policies which work against the people we’re elected to serve.

The member from Mississauga–Malton, please.