How is it that some people seem to know what’s going on here, but the people who are going to lose their livelihood, their farms, aren’t given any information? It’s outrageous.

The Ontario Federation of Agriculture says that we’re losing 319 acres of farmland every day in this province, and here’s this government, doubling down with their anti-farmer sentiment and a new land grab in Wilmot—

Interjections.

People are tired of this.

The Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario and the Ontario branch of the farmers’ union have called the government’s decision “shameful” and “short-sighted.”

Why does the Premier keep attacking the province’s farmers and prime farmland?

No, Minister, this is about getting some relief for people today, not 10 years from now.

I’m going to bring my question back to the Premier. This is about political will. The Minister of Transportation said yesterday that it would be just too difficult to scrap tolls on Highway 407 because it’s owned by a private entity. He even admitted to journalists that it is within the government’s power to renegotiate the 407 contract, but they’re not willing to do it.

So my question back to the Premier is, why is this Premier so afraid of taking on the 407 operator?

Interjections.

Yesterday we gave them a chance to reverse their soft-on-tolls policies and actually do something, but they refused. Back to the Premier: When are you going to start prioritizing the interests of Ontarians instead of big corporations?

Interjections.

My next question is back to the Premier. In January, it was announced that the AV Terrace Bay pulp mill would close indefinitely, throwing 400 workers out of work. Workers from the mill, members of USW Local 665, are here today. I welcome them. They’re watching us now and they’re looking for answers from this government.

This is a viable mill in a competitive industry. If this mill is allowed to shut down, somebody else is going to open a mill outside of Ontario to do the same work.

Can the Premier tell these workers and the people of Terrace Bay what they are doing to save these jobs and get this mill back up and running?

And what is this government doing? They are saying the same things they always say; they’re making these empty promises. Those workers came a long way today to hear this government say, “We are going to fight for you and we are going to fight for northern Ontario.”

When will this Premier fight for the people of Terrace Bay?

Interjections.

This question is for the Premier. Yesterday, while defending his latest plan to stack the judicial appointments committee with insiders and lobbyists, the Premier launched into a tirade about the state of crime in the province. He said, “They’re kicking in doors in the middle of the night, putting guns to people’s heads....”

Given the Premier’s concern about the risk of handguns in violent crime, why did he give a lobbyist for an American handgun manufacturer the power to choose Ontario’s next judges?

Interjections.

Speaker, the tough-on-crime so-called bluster here in the House is not going to change the fact that it’s this government’s failures that have left people without access to justice. Victims of crime are seeing their assailants walk free not because of an insufficiently conservative judge, but because of delays that are the direct result of this Premier’s mishandling and underfunding of our court system.

So, back to the Premier, Speaker: How will appointing a handgun lobbyist to the judicial appointments committee help reduce gun crime?

Interjections.

Speaker, not only are these new patronage appointments former Conservative staffers who lobby their former employers for a living, but one of them registered to lobby after they were appointed to the committee that selects judges. Judges are not meant to be like-minded with any political party and they are not meant to be appointed in the interests of private companies seeking to do business with the government. They are meant to serve the people.

So, Speaker, yes or no—back to the Premier—will these insiders continue to lobby for handgun manufacturers while they are appointing our judges?

Interjections.

Yesterday, this government tried to bob and weave on questions of their integrity, but people still have many questions.

On September 14, 2022, the chief of staff to the housing minister, Ryan Amato, was handed brown envelopes from speculators requesting greenbelt removals at the BILD dinner. The very next day, Amato sought clarity directly from the Premier in a meeting the Premier conveniently “does not recall.” In fact, Ryan Amato texted a colleague that the Premier and his chief of staff were “very serious.” Can the Premier tell us what happened at this meeting?

The people won’t be satisfied with responses like that because one day after that meeting, which the Premier doesn’t recall, Mr. Amato informed the Ministry of Housing that they wished to initiate a site-specific review where three priority sites were identified to be removed from the greenbelt. Two of those sites were in the packages delivered to Mr. Amato at the BILD dinner.

In just three days, this government had moved from criteria-based selection to three site-specific properties accounting for 91% of the land that this government was trying to remove from the greenbelt.

Did the Premier ever discuss site-specific removals with ministers or staff prior to October 2022?

Interjections.

So I want to ask the Premier again: What happened at this meeting on September 15?

Curiously, a request for the Premier’s phone records during the same time period that the decision to carve up the greenbelt was made returned no records—no calls, no texts.

Is the Premier using his personal phone to conduct government business to avoid freedom-of-information requests?