Thank you to the member opposite for that important question and for the great work he does for the people of Brampton. I know they care deeply about this subject.

Speaker, it was our government, thanks to the leadership of the member for Barrie–Innisfil, that first launched a Day of Action on Litter, combatting this and engaging communities from across our great province. I don’t care about your political stripe; I thank the many men, women, children, seniors who got active and participated and reported into our ministry. It’s going to be another historic year.

We’ve also worked with partners like Pollution Probe, launching the largest of its kind—the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup, capturing microplastics in harbours in my own community. In fact, the Seabins are in Cobourg harbour as we speak, capturing microplastics and partnering with the U of T Trash Team to study the impacts that these plastics are having on our Great Lakes.

Finally, we’ve launched extended producer responsibility, transitioning the Blue Box—one system across Ontario with among the highest targets in North America, so that we can leave behind a cleaner planet for our next generation.

In fact, I just partnered with Earth Rangers to launch the battery blitz—we were in Thornhill—and it was an incredible opportunity to engage youth, to challenge them to recycle the batteries. There was a time not long ago when these batteries were ending up in landfill. Thanks to the leadership of this Premier and this government, we’re now recycling those batteries. I was at C. R. Gummow in Cobourg for the same thing, seeing how inspirational it was to see youth getting active on combatting this.

The member talked about waste water infrastructure. What we inherited from the previous Liberal government was a decade of darkness when it comes to investing in the critical infrastructure, waste water and stormwater.

We’re building a new water station in Cobourg. We’re building modern waste water and water infrastructure to support a growing province so that our next—

It’s children recycling. Relax.

Thank you for the question. I was honoured to visit Thornhill with our incredible member from Thornhill and the amazing students at St. Anthony to launch the Battery Blitz. This is a challenge, first of its kind, across the province of Ontario where students are recycling batteries in this province. Thanks to the leadership of this Premier, this government, we’re recycling more in the province of Ontario. You know the saying “recycle, reuse, reduce”? It’s inspiring to look in the faces of our next generation, for them to go home to talk about all the things that they use batteries for and recycling—

Interjection.

Speaker, I don’t want to clip this. I just want kids to recycle. Thanks to Premier Ford and this government, we’re recycling more.

Again, thanks to Premier Ford’s leadership, we’re recycling more in the province of Ontario. We’ve launched among the highest targets in Ontario to recycle, with extended producer responsibility, in the blue box.

We’re finding new and innovative ways to recycle more. We’re recycling hazardous waste, including recycling plants that create fertilizer from end-of-life batteries, an innovation that would not be possible if it wasn’t for our government’s leadership in promoting and investing in recycling alternatives. We’re standardizing what goes into the blue box and expanding its services to more communities across Ontario than ever before. Partner municipalities have been asking for this for years. We’re saving them hundreds of millions of dollars. I’m proud to see our next generation getting so active in recycling across—