Thank you, Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity. I want to thank our House leader for a very, very substantial, logical and powerful presentation. She has asked for your guidance. I know you’ll have to think about it. I look forward to what you have to say.

I’m sorry that the government House leader is leaving, because I have to say—

I have to say that the operation of the House is critical to the function of democracy in this province. There are traditions in parliamentary democracies that assist in the thoughtful—sometimes—deliberation of substantial issues in a society. It is important for all of us in this chamber to defend democratic traditions and to ensure that there’s the ability for impartial operation and for, to the extent that it’s possible, collegial work between governments and opposition parties.

I have to say that when I was first approached by my House leader to say that we were told that if we did not vote for the member the government House leader wanted for Speaker we would have our recommendations for committee chairs and for Deputy Speakers thrown out, I was totally taken aback. I have not dealt with a government before—and I’ve been here since 2006, so I’ve seen Premiers come and go—even with this Premier in 2018, I have never seen a government act in this way. It’s extraordinary to me. The selection of the Speaker of this House is a profoundly important matter and, as you’re aware from previous elections, often we’ve had multiple candidates running.

I know we’ll get into this further when we talk about the other motion before us, but I want to say to you, when we were told, “If you don’t vote this way we are going to punish you in that way,” we had a substantial decision to make.

I know a number of you in the caucus—those of you who are new, I’m going to get a chance to meet you. I’ve been with a number of you now for quite a few years and I’ve seen how you’ve stood up when you’ve been pressed by governments that have acted in unfair ways. I won’t single out any member, but some of you are willing to stand up and fight back. You have stood up and you have fought back. Well, we’re doing the same thing.

When a government comes and says, “We will punish you and this is the way we’ll punish you, unless you vote the way we directed”—

If in fact you set up a situation where there is not collegial agreement between the parties as to who is on committee, and if you set up a situation where recommendations from the opposition for Chairs and Vice-Chairs are thrown out by the government, you have diminished democracy within this province. You have undermined a principle that I think everyone in this House subscribes to. I look forward to your ruling on that.

I want to say to you, in terms of committee appointments, I don’t know about everyone in this chamber, but I been through a number of changes of governments, and I’ve been there when committees have elected their Chairs. I have to say, in 2018, this Conservative government was no different from the previous Liberal governments—and that’s that I walked into a committee meeting knowing who was going to be the Chair because the government of the day had already dictated that. If you and your caucus have not had discussions or have not been told “You’re going to be a Chair or a Vice-Chair,” I’m surprised, I’m shocked, I may be disbelieving, because, in fact, governments of all stripes decide who they want in those very powerful positions.

Historically, the opposition has been able to appoint Chairs of committees—the estimates committee; public accounts. It is simply something that is seen as being reserved for the official opposition—and, frankly, Vice-Chairs.

We have operated within the democratic traditions of this House. What is being proposed by the government is contrary to those democratic traditions.

I will say to those of you here today—and I said this to the Liberals before—don’t assume you’re going to win the next election. If you undermine the structures that allow the opposition to do their job you may, in the future, be in that position of being in opposition and you will want those structures to be protected. The government of the day will not be happy with the structures. That’s life. But the people of Ontario expect that there will be a structure that reflects their democratic values. People died in large numbers to protect democracy in this society; we fought for it, and to see it undermined, in my opinion, is disgraceful.