Thank you to the member for that important question on World Water Day.

Speaker, our government is proud of our record in keeping Ontario’s drinking water safe for all Ontarians. We have comprehensive legislation and a regulatory framework, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the Health Protection and Promotion Act. We know water on reserves does not fall under that; it falls under federal legislation. Having said that, that’s not good enough. We’re working with the federal government and with Indigenous communities.

It was this government that, for the first time ever, in the mandate of Walkerton and the Ontario Clean Water Agency, included a mandate to engage with Indigenous communities. I’m pleased to say members of the Ontario Clean Water Agency and Walkerton have been in a number of Indigenous communities on a 24/7 basis, working with Indigenous water operators and the federal government, because it’s not good enough—as previous governments, supported by the NDP—to just pass the buck.

We’re leaning in, working with Indigenous communities.

The member asked what we’re doing.

If we’re going to be intellectually honest with ourselves on the challenge—a lot of it stems from lack of training for water operation.

We know the federal government—this was Indigenous communities that said to the federal government, “Pay us a fair wage.” We supported them.

What has Ontario done? Well, as of June 2022, 168 operators and 116 managers or supervisors have been trained at no cost to Indigenous communities. This was never done by the previous Liberal government. Our government is standing up, working at no cost to these Indigenous communities, and we’re going to work together with them. If the member opposite has any specific communities he feels are not benefiting from that training, let me know and we’ll make sure we have water operators there to work with them.

I appreciate the question from the member opposite.

It’s important that Ontarians know that we’re very blessed to live in this province that has such robust standards for water—the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the Health Protection and Promotion Act.

It’s unfortunate that the member opposite is choosing to politicize water rather than work with this government to make investments that protect water.

That’s why, as a government, as I mentioned in the previous answer, we’ve worked at no charge to train water operators—dealing with systemic challenges in training for water operators—in Indigenous communities. That’s why we’re working with rural municipalities, the Ontario Clean Water Agency, and dealing with staff and retention challenges there. That’s why we’re investing in the modern and critical infrastructure.

That member said “urgent action”—that’s why we’ve required updated monitoring and reporting in her own community, to ensure that we’re protecting water for generations to come and investing in the modern infrastructure to support those growing communities.