I’m pleased to welcome members of the Ontario Road Builders’ Association and the Ontario Asphalt Pavement Council at Queen’s Park today. I’d like to especially thank Mark Mallett and Graziela Girardi. We met this morning to discuss northern development and necessary built-road access. Thank you. Welcome.

Last year, we saw a record level of fires in Ontario. In fact, we all remember how smoke affected Toronto and everybody else in the province. Now, in the budget, we’re reducing the budget for forest fires by an amount of $81 million. The amount in 2024-25, for this year, is $135 million, down from $216 million.

We’ve seen hardly any snow this winter. I just came back from Fort Albany. The river is still so down, even the First Nations haven’t seen it. I went by plane. We’ve seen where the fires stopped last year. It was like from here to University Avenue right in front here at Queen’s Park. That’s how close.

Communities are scared. They’re concerned about forest fires. So how can you justify reducing the budget when we know we were 50 teams short for forest fires? This year the minister says it will probably be the same amount this year, yet we’re reducing budgets. What can you say to these communities that are really concerned about forest fires this year?