This government, under the leadership of our Premier, stands for promises made, promises kept. A promise was made in this House to eradicate NOSIs, to protect our seniors and our most vulnerable, and that promise will be kept.

There are many weeks ahead in this legislative spring session, so I say to the member opposite, thank you for the question. Stay tuned and always count on our Premier and this government to stand up for our seniors, for our fellow citizens in need.

My ministry, so far, has brought forth two pieces of legislation that have gained the unanimous support of this House—of course, that includes the member opposite and his caucus.

When further thoughtful legislation is tabled in this House for further consumer protection, for further eradication of consumer harms like NOSI, I hope and believe that we can speedily pass it through this House with the support of the members opposite. I trust that they will thoughtfully consider their options in that regard.

I have a question for my friend, the member opposite, who is a very capable critic in regard to this particular ministry. I listened carefully to the concerns he raised in his remarks today about NOSIs. We’re equally concerned about it.

Can the member confirm that he agrees that section 60 of this proposed bill is a good start? But parallel to that, with our consultation period, which will continue on what we can do in the here and the now parallel to section 60, can he agree that he’ll be participating and encouraging others to participate in our consultation period on NOSIs, which concludes December 1?

Mr. Speaker, through you again: The member is absolutely right. The most important stakeholder we have are the people of this great province, and we need to be speaking directly with them and to listen to them to build a solution that protects them from bad actors using NOSIs to drain their pockets.

But I want to take this opportunity and also thank our member from Markham–Unionville for bringing forward his motion to investigate this issue more deeply because of consumer concerns, as well as the great member from Kitchener–Conestoga for his work with the Waterloo Regional Police Service to raise awareness of this widespread fraud.

Speaker, this is why my ministry is consulting with consumers, businesses and experts alike to determine the best solution possible, and this is only the first of many steps to come for our fellow citizens.

Thank you to the member for Carleton for that excellent question and her superb work on behalf of her constituents. Mr. Speaker, every Ontarian deserves to feel safe when purchasing something as essential as a water heater. Our government will not stand by and let bad actors leverage tools like NOSIs, in bad faith, to empty hard-working Ontarians’ pockets.

That is exactly why our government has begun the necessary work to restore confidence to consumers by launching a vital round of consultations that will inform our ongoing work to put an end to the harmful misuse of notices of security interest, otherwise known as NOSIs. Let me be unequivocally clear—very clear, crystal clear: This government and this Premier will not stand idly by and let our most vulnerable consumers be taken advantage of by bad business practices. We are taking decisive action to protect consumers.