I want to start, definitely, with Bill 124 and the decision of the Superior Court of Justice. I’m asking the government not to appeal the decision—

I’m asking the government not to appeal it. The court recognized the unconstitutionality of Bill 124. So make it right. Stop hurting the workforce, and encourage it. We need more hands on deck.

When you look at a title like Less Red Tape, Stronger Ontario Act—well, repealing Bill 124 will help that. ERs are crowded. Surgeries are postponed. Let’s cut the red tape for the 15,000 international nurses and have them accredited to work in Ontario and help our hospitals. Why isn’t that the plan?

The province is facing many issues at this moment, and this bill does not address any of them—the crisis of workers in health care, or the multiple issues that First Nations communities are facing, such as boil-water advisories and contaminated soil; shortage of housing; access to benefits under the workers compensation board, the deeming; the need for development of more affordable housing; the backlog with the Landlord and Tenant Board and in our court system.

This government chooses to ignore the proposals of hospital administrators that came from my constituents. They asked for help, they brought help—yet no answers. It has been a year and a half—and still no answer. I asked two questions in the House to the minister, delivered in their hands, asking them to respond—still no response. It chooses to ignore the concerns of the environment while waiting to carve up the greenbelt, by big developers. And they are doing nothing to help alleviate the financial burden of students with their post-secondary tuition fees. We have the highest tuition fees in the country.

This bill is simply a list of housekeeping items and amendments. This doesn’t address the immediate needs of Ontarians. I call it a “change the channel” bill.

Ontario is signatory to Treaty 9. This government seems to forget that.

Four years ago, Kashechewan signed a new agreement to relocate the community. When you were elected four years ago—this is one of the changes you’ve done. You pretty well changed the colour of the agreement and then signed it—still, nothing has been done. Yet, we hear about how fast it’s going to go with the Ring of Fire, how fast it’s moving ahead. But that community is still waiting. Every spring, they’re threatened to be evacuated, and yet we have an agreement that was signed by this government to move this community that are facing—every year, they’re threatened by flooding.

Attawapiskat still has fuel contamination. Some of it was fixed, but they still have fuel contamination in their community. The community wants to expand. There’s nowhere to expand—because there’s a road and the De Beers mine put a bump on it in protest, so now they can’t build. That’s the only way they can expand. It’s on their traditional territories, and yet they’re not permitted to expand. The other option they have is to move the airport. The airport is right by the community, and they’ve been complaining about the fuel and the dust and the noise.

A lot of communities have water advisories. My colleague Sol Mamakwa, the MPP for Kiiwetinoong, has said that the community has a 27-year boil-water advisory. If you want to remove red tape—that’s the red tape you need to remove. Fix boil-water advisories. In my community of Attawapiskat, people have to open windows to take showers because there are too many chemicals in the water. That’s reality.

If you want to help communities, if you want to do good red tape—these are examples of good red tape. Attawapiskat declared an emergency on the lack of housing that there is on their traditional territories, and yet they’re not permitted to expand. You go into First Nations communities, and they’ve got a stack of mattresses in their living rooms. Tell me that’s all right. Tell me that is fair.

WSIB and the deeming: You want to remove red tape that will help? That is good red tape—injured workers who are living in poverty. There is no work. You need to realize that up north, communities are sometimes an hour away and more. So they’ve been deemed to do, let’s say, I don’t know—