I too would like to welcome back our former caucus colleague and friend to this very peaceful place: Welcome to your House, Taras.

My question is to the Premier.

A core mandate of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. is to generate revenue for the province. By this metric, the government’s ongoing plan to privatize operation of Ontario’s casinos is a failure. Even before all of the contracts have been awarded, fully one third of the contracts were renegotiated, resulting in an estimated loss of $3.3 billion to the province. These renegotiations were done voluntarily—there was no legal obligation for the province to do this—and they amount to a subsidy. These subsidies have been used in the construction of these private casinos. We are subsidizing the construction of casinos in the province of Ontario.

Why is this government continuing down this path and losing billions of dollars that are needed for health care, education, housing and, yes, the environment? Please tell the people of this province why the finance minister is overseeing and condoning this conduct.

The OLG, with the permission of the finance ministry, was not required to renegotiate these contracts, and they didn’t need our help, either. In one case, a private casino operator, with over $3 billion in assets and a net revenue of nearly $300 million annually, was given a sweetheart deal to reduce their revenue-sharing with the province by 25%. Apparently, this government is more concerned about the financial viability of casino corporations than with the needed revenue for education, health, housing and, yes, fighting forest fires.

Was this renegotiation really intended as a gift to friends? Or is the government truly so out of touch with the needs of Ontarians that they prioritize casinos over housing? This is unethical behaviour. I’m asking the finance minister simply to do his job.