My question is for the Premier. In Waterloo region, 770 acres of prime farmland in Wilmot township are at risk of being expropriated for an undisclosed industrial site. Waterloo’s regional official plan accommodated all anticipated growth until 2051 without significant farmland loss. This is very important for the people of the region of Waterloo. Yet a month ago, farmers in Wilmot were offered an insulting cash offer per acre and given seven days to accept an offer or face expropriation.

This government’s current legislation makes it possible for what is happening in Wilmot to happen anywhere in Ontario, with no transparency and no community consultation. We don’t need any more Vegas deals on Ontario land in this place.

My question to the Premier, why is this government undermining the farming sector and encouraging backroom deals with developers?

We lose 319 acres of farmland every single day. This entire process has been without transparency, without process, is outside the official plan and is indicative of where this government is going with regard to encouraging sprawl and decimating farmland.

I fully support this petition and will affix my signature.

This petition, signed by around 300 of 7,000 signatures, is in support of stronger mental health services in the province of Ontario. It’s a petition that was inspired by the Roth family, who lost their daughter Kaitlyn to suicide.

Kaitlyn didn’t fit into the mental health services and supports that exist in the province of Ontario. She sought help. She wanted help. She wanted to get better, but at the end of the day, she was turned away and/or received insufficient or improper mental health supports.

This petition really calls on greater training, targeted funding, specifically asking the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions to earmark funding for training to ensure that when people have enough courage to come forward, to request help in very difficult circumstances, that help is there for them.

It’s in honour of Kaitlyn Roth. It is my pleasure to affix my signature and call on the government to address the mental health crisis in Ontario.

Miss Surma moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 151, An Act to amend various statutes regarding infrastructure / Projet de loi 151, Loi modifiant diverses lois relatives aux infrastructures.

Say it’s not so.

The Auditor General found that Infrastructure Ontario does not obtain enough information from its external project managers to assess whether procurements are done in a competitive and fair manner. The AG found that the external project managers do not have an incentive to complete projects on time. The AG found that almost $19 million was spent in one year on operating and maintaining 812 vacant buildings. We have a housing crisis; maybe we can do something with those vacant buildings. And then, finally, she found that one private sector company with a history of poor performance is still being awarded new contracts by Infrastructure Ontario, and Infrastructure Ontario does not have a formalized performance evaluation program of private sector companies.

Infrastructure Ontario is the problem. Why has this government doubled down on giving more responsibility to Infrastructure Ontario?

We said no.