The Leader of the Opposition is, of course, speaking of a member of her caucus whom she removed from her caucus.

Having said that, I think the Premier has been very clear on where he stands. It’s a decision that the Speaker has made.

At the same time, Speaker, I am quite concerned that the Leader of the Opposition continues to suggest that the members of her caucus or any caucus should be compelled to make a decision. That is not the way this place works. I am somewhat concerned that the Leader of the Opposition is suggesting that she’s compelling her members to make a decision.

We will continue to follow the rules, as established by this House, until those rules are changed.

Interjections.

I speak very directly to the people of the province: The government of Ontario has not banned anything. In fact, it was this government and this Legislature, led by that Minister of Transportation, who, in the last Parliament—

Interjections.

The Leader of the Opposition really ought to be ashamed for what it is that she is doing here today—suggesting to the people of the province of Ontario that the government has made a decision that it has not done. This is a decision of the Legislative Assembly. If those rules change, of course we will follow those—

Interjections.

What Progressive Conservatives do on this side of the House is stand up for all of the people of the province of Ontario. We don’t sit on our benches, compelling our members. We stand up for everybody, no matter where you come from, no matter what you believe in. We don’t use this chamber as a place to divide people. That’s not what responsible parliamentarians do. It is what she does and—

Interjections.

In fact, we’re not cutting funding for affordable housing.

Do you know who’s cutting funding? The Liberal-NDP government in Ottawa. That is who is cutting funding, by billions of dollars, for the people of Ontario. It’s an agreement that they signed in 2018 with the previous government, that we have honoured. We have overachieved, thanks to the actions that we have taken and our partnership with municipalities across the province of Ontario. Speaker, 426% of renovations have been completed under this government—because we inherited a mess from the others—11,000 of the 19,000 units that had to be built over 10 years were already there. But unilaterally, the NDP-Liberal government in Ottawa has decided to cut billions of dollars from the people of the province of Ontario for affordable housing.

I ask the member opposite—they have an opportunity to call their federal cousins in Ottawa to say that they will not support the federal budget unless the federal budget includes the restoration of the billions of dollars in funds that were unilaterally removed from affordable housing in Ontario.

There’s one—one—government that is opposed to affordable housing funding, and that is the federal Liberal and NDP government, who unilaterally decided to cut funding to the province of Ontario. They didn’t cut funding anywhere else, just Ontario. And do you know who’s staying silent? It is the NDP in Ottawa. They have an opportunity to vote against the federal budget or to say, “Add the funding back in for the province of Ontario and then we will support the budget.” But they’ll stay silent, because they’re just like the NDP here: irrelevant.

Mr. Speaker, I don’t actually have to answer a question. Do you know why? Because every question they ask just highlights how bad a party and how irrelevant they are to the discussion in the province of Ontario.

Let’s look at this this way: They had one Premier, Bob Rae, in their history, and he was so embarrassed to be an NDP member, he fled the party.

Some of the best relations I have right now are with the former leader of the NDP, who is now the mayor of Hamilton. She is telling me that she loves working with this government, because we’re getting things done—and it’s not just her; it’s the former leader of the Liberal Party in Vaughan, who tells me that the housing crisis started under the Liberal government, and that we are finally taking action to get more homes built across province of Ontario.

So do you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to ignore the most irrelevant party in the history of the province of Ontario—

Interjections.

I’ll tell you what, I’ll take the good advice of—

We are breaking records. We’re breaking records on new purpose-built rental housing, more than ever before; the most new housing starts over the last three years than we have had in over 30 decades. I’ll continue breaking those records every single day.

The member knows quite well that the minister and the Premier have been working very closely with First Nations, because we understand how important it is to unlock the resources of the north to power not only the economies of northern Ontario, but to help empower the manufacturing might of southern Ontario. That is why we are working very closely with First Nations partners in that area who have told us that they want to be partners in helping unlock these resources for all Ontarians and for First Nations communities.

That is why we are taking enormous steps to ensure that every community in northern Ontario is no longer using diesel generation, for instance. I know the Minister of Energy has ensured that—I think almost every community now will be hooked up to the grid to help us support what we are doing in northern Ontario.

The member is absolutely correct; First Nations are going to be partners with us in getting this done, and I look forward to that continuing collaboration.

I know that the Minister of Indigenous Affairs has worked very closely with First Nations partners to ensure that we not only work with First Nations—we’re hearing from so many partners, not only in northern Ontario, but partners from across the province who say that they want to participate in helping us rebuild the economic powerhouse that was the province of Ontario, and that no community wants to be left behind. It is so vitally important that our partners in First Nations communities are a part of that. They want to be a part of that. And we’re going to continue to work very hard—I know it’s a priority of the Premier; I know it’s a priority of the Minister of Indigenous Affairs; and I know how hard the Minister of Mines has been working to ensure that we get that.

We can’t power the south, we can’t power the north, unless we unlock the riches of Ontario.