Speaker, I don’t think it’s appropriate for the member for Brantford–Brant to pat themselves on the back for a paltry 5% increase after a 22.5% decrease back in the 1990s.

What is also surprising really is the overt admission by this government they didn’t do their job as the official opposition, but they haven’t really concerned themselves about social assistance. As soon as they formed government, they cut that paltry 3% into 1.5%, waited a number of years for 5%.

Let’s talk about their cuts to minimum wage. They do not care for people who are on the margins, who are being deliberately marginalized by government decisions. In fact, they are upholding that by keeping people below the poverty line. They are kicking downwards to people who can least afford it. They could stand up for renters, they could stand up for students, they could stand up for seniors, but they choose not to again and again and again. There are so many gaps that this government has left, and it’s disappointing. The finances are clear. Poverty has a cost. If they increase social assistance rates—

There are a number of different ways to achieve these same ends without subjecting animals or breeding animals to be treated in this manner. They could be pursuing scent trails. There are a number of different folks from the Animal Alliance of Canada who are suggesting that dogs track through scent. They don’t need to track an animal. That animal does not need to be ripped apart for them to be trained as a hunting animal. It seems incongruous that these animals are simply being ripped apart for really no purpose.

If hunting is involved, then that person is hunting for a purpose: They’re hunting for food. They’re hunting for their culture. It makes no sense that we still have these areas where rabbits, foxes and coyotes are simply mauled for the purpose of what one would call sport.

The FAO has pointed out that this government was sitting on $20 billion in their contingency fund, a slush fund. They’re hiding that so it’s not subject to public scrutiny. And for the estimates process, which normally is 15 hours where the official opposition gets to scrutinize all of the government’s expenditures, this government gave 20 minutes, because they wanted to hide all of the horrible, nefarious things they’re doing with all of the province’s money. It’s a party with the public purse. They just don’t want to know where it’s going. That’s why it’s all pushed aside into the slush fund so they don’t let people know, because accountability and transparency are not this Conservative government’s values.

It is deeply concerning that we have this situation in the richest province, in Ontario. It’s deeply concerning that this government will not address the root causes of poverty and make sure that people are above the poverty line.