Speaker, we don’t have time to waste. We should be doing everything we can to prevent even one more death from intimate partner violence.

Advocates have been sounding the alarm, calling for a clear and urgent strategy.

Last year, you’ll recall that a coroner’s inquest on the murders in Renfrew gave the province 86 recommendations, 68 of those under provincial jurisdiction. But this government rejected many of those recommendations, including choosing not to declare gender-based violence an epidemic.

To the Premier: Will the Premier stand with advocates and survivors and declare intimate partner violence an epidemic?

Interjections.

And the rates, the demand—under the pandemic, it skyrocketed. It hasn’t gone back down yet, and your government has not kept up.

Back to the Premier: Will his government commit today to call this an epidemic and adequately fund survivor services?

Interjections.

Anyway, my question is to the Premier: On September 25, the government House leader tabled a motion to accept the report of the Integrity Commissioner into the former Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and to approve the recommendation to reprimand that former minister. The motion is still sitting there on the order paper.

To the Premier: When will this motion be debated?

Speaker, this government is under criminal investigation by the RCMP. The RCMP has now even appointed a special prosecutor to investigate this case, including talking to witnesses this government muzzled by confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

But the Premier is just ignoring the commissioner’s recommendations to officially reprimand that minister for his well-documented misconduct. They are doing whatever it takes to avoid having this conversation in the public realm and in this House.

To the Premier: Why has this government refused to hold the former minister accountable for his misconduct?

Back to the Premier: Will the Premier allow a full debate on that reprimand motion so he’ll finally understand why giving his friends preferential treatment is wrong?

Interjections.

People in Sault Ste. Marie and across this province are mourning the tragic, horrific loss of five people, three of them children, as a result of intimate partner violence.

Tragically, gender-based violence and femicide is on the rise in our province, and it’s long past time for change. A report from July of this year found that Ontario had 30 femicides in as many weeks—30 women killed in 30 weeks.

My question is to the Premier: What actions will the Premier take to prevent further tragedies like we saw in Sault Ste. Marie?

I’m very pleased to welcome all of the trustees from the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association today, but especially my own trustee, Alexis Dawson.

I also want to recognize in the House today with us two friends from Napanee: Barb Linds and Eric DePoe, who was the 2022 NDP candidate in Hastings–Lennox and Addington. Welcome to the House.