My question is for the Premier. Never has an Ontario government spent so much, borrowed so much, incurred so much debt to accomplish so little.

Yesterday’s budget did nothing to address affordability for Ontario families. No relief for renters crushed by massive increases, and the Premier’s NIMBY—

Interjections.

This Premier’s NIMBY—I’ll take care of my friends first—approach is not making affordable housing a reality for any Ontario families, and, thanks to this Premier, every day, more and more Ontarians are having to pull out their credit card instead of their OHIP card to access basic primary care services.

My question is to the Premier: Why did he do nothing to address affordability in this budget for Ontario families?

Yesterday’s budget’s meagre increase to health care in this province amounts to a cut. That has left the two million Ontarians without a family doctor without hope. They need access to primary care. Under this Premier, too many families are now having to face using their credit card instead of their OHIP card to access basic primary care services.

The Premier knows this is happening, and he’s just watching. By all accounts, that’s just fine with him. This Premier is really ready to point a finger but never able to lift one.

I’ll ask the Premier again: The Premier had an opportunity to actually take some measures to address the affordability crisis, so why didn’t he?

Interjections.

I’d like to say I’m pleased to rise today and speak to motion 24. I do have to say that this morning, when I first saw it, it got me quite exercised—and maybe I needed an exorcism. I’m not quite as exercised right now, but I’m still, I think, angry about it. But I’m going to get into that later, because I took a look at this, and I’m going to start with the stuff that I think is okay, because not everything can be all bad.

Ministerial statements: That change to eight minutes is reasonable. I think we can work with our colleagues, like we work with the independent colleagues here. That’s a reasonable thing. That will avoid all those unanimous consents and the unfortunate misunderstandings that come from some unanimous consents. I think that one of those misunderstandings is what brought us here today—a misunderstanding over unanimous consent—so I think that’s good.

I also want to say, Speaker, that I’ll be sharing my time with the member from Kingston and the Islands.

Now, late shows: It’s kind of meh. For late shows, anybody can answer a question. Well, the reality is that anybody can read the speech that they’ve been handed. To be fair, that’s what happens right now. It’s not a significant change. I’m not going to lose sleep over it.

I did have the pleasure of having the Attorney General here for a late show. I really do appreciate it when ministers show up, when they actually answer the question and we have a debate, but the reality is that the changes to late shows—it’s meh. It’s not going to make any difference. The reality is, they’re reading a speech; maybe it came from their office or maybe it came from the minister’s office. It probably came from the corner office, so what’s the difference?

Now, petitions: Petitions are 15 minutes a day—15 minutes a day—that the people get to have their say. They petition us. It’s their opportunity—15 minutes. There are challenges with petitions. I’ve seen some long petitions, and everybody is guilty of it. But there should be an opportunity for us to come together here and say, “Maybe we can figure this out,” so no one is actually taking too much time and not giving other people time.

What has been happening here this week with petitions—I know they’re trying to make a point. It’s silly. Do it once. It’s silly to do it the rest of the time. It’s overkill. It had to be embarrassing for the member. I would not make a member of our caucus do that. Maybe other people think that’s okay. It’s actually not our time. It’s not our time, and maybe that’s a thing we have to underscore: It’s the people’s time—15 minutes. How come we can’t just find a way to agree on 15 minutes?

Now, the part that’s got me exorcised, the part that’s got me really angry—and there are a few people here who were here this morning and know how angry I was. They also know how hard it is to make me angry. I’ve calmed down, but I’m still angry. I’m just not as angry as I was this morning. Ask my office staff. In the 42nd Parliament, we found a way to work together. We had four questions over here. Do you know what? I think that would be a reasonable thing for us to get back to. There are 16 independents; there are almost as many as at the end of the last Legislature. And I’m sure the Premier is going to give us more members, because he’s pretty good at doing that on a regular basis. The simple right for us to be on committee is important; the ability for us to sub in is important. That’s where the business of government is. That’s where we try to make things better. And to take that away from us, to take that away from all the independents—the Greens, the Conservative independents and the independent independents—is wrong. It’s just simply wrong.

We’re all supposed to be excited because there’s a change, bringing it to the committee of the interior—the committee of the interior is going to decide. I know the Chair is not very happy about it.

The reality is—who controls the committee? It’s the government House leader and the corner office. Shocking.

I appreciate it. It’s like putting lipstick on a pig.

At the end of the day, is it going to make a big difference? No, because the government House leader already controls that. He might argue that he’s planning for a minority government, and if that was the case—that he was thinking about a minority government and making sure that it would work in a minority government—then that would be a good thing. But as far as when there’s a majority government, it’s just the same stuff again, more of the same.

I’d like to put forward an amendment. Speaker, I move that the motion be amended as follows:

By deleting everything from “Standing order 115(b)” to “Standing order 115(f) is deleted” inclusive; and

By inserting the following: “Standing order 35(g) is amended by adding, ‘In addition to the Speaker’s allotment of questions to independent members under this standing order, the Speaker may also allot to independent members the slots that would otherwise be the third and fifth questions allotted to government members.’”

I know I’m sharing my time with the member for Kingston and the Islands, but, Speaker, I would just like to move adjournment of debate.

Anyway, I’m going to cede the floor to my colleague—yes, you can all leave. That was the signal, folks. Do you want to go? Go. I’m not that exciting—

Interjection: Down goes Fraser.

Okay, come on. Keep it going.

So I think I’ve said enough about what’s good and really not so good about these changes. I’d like to give some time to my colleague from Kingston and the Islands to say a few words. You all have a good night.