It’s my pleasure to rise to speak to this motion. It’s basically like speaking to my motion all over again because, aside from eight words, nothing has changed since my motion.

It’s interesting the member from Essex is thanking the member for Windsor–Tecumseh for his foresight. Actually, we’ve been working on this for years now with the community, with my federal counterpart, through environmental organizations and Caldwell First Nation. So really, they’re the ones that should be getting the thank you for the work that has happened to get it to the point where it is today.

Speaker, I had a speech prepared, but listening to debate from my colleagues around the House, both on our side and the other side, I just have some thoughts. I have some big feels now that I’m going to share.

When you look at the original motion, the motion I tabled back in August, it said, “That, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should transfer ownership of the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve to Parks Canada to facilitate creation of the Ojibway National Urban Park as part of an overall strategy to protect local endangered species and natural heritage areas, aid flood mitigation efforts, create publicly accessible green space and further encourage ecotourism in Windsor-Essex.”

I’ll just read the portion of the member for Windsor–Tecumseh’s motion that’s different from mine: “That, in the opinion of this House, the government of Ontario should consider integrating the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve with adjacent lands under the management of Parks Canada.”

Now, Madam Speaker, my colleague from Niagara Falls was talking about the greenbelt and what we’ve just seen happen with a bill here in the House. We are talking about a provincially protected space right now, Ojibway Prairie Provincial Nature Reserve. It’s under the umbrella of Ontario Parks. Bill 23—and this is the concern of my community. I had a conversation with the leaders from Friends of Ojibway earlier today. I’ve had conversations with Chief Mary Duckworth from Caldwell First Nation; I just had another conversation with her this morning. I’ve had conversations with ERCA; I’ve had conversations with community members; I’ve had conversations with those from the Unifor Local 444 environmental group. I’ve had lots of conversations since the government tabled Bill 23.

The concern is that if the province doesn’t transfer this land to Parks Canada so that it would be protected under the federal legislation, what we are going to see happen is that this government is going to open up this incredibly environmentally significant land for whoever wants to come along and build on it. There are very real concerns.

Interjections.

Interjection: Including the Indigenous communities.

Interjections.

Madam Speaker, I want to take an opportunity to talk about consultation. As I said—

Madam Speaker, at the end of the day, this is incredibly important. It is environmentally significant. It is important to my community. We have done years and years of community engagement and consultation.

The city of Windsor is going to be transferring land. The federal government will be transferring land. Caldwell First Nation wants this land protected, and they want to be partners—they are partners, and they need to be treated so.

Another concern that has come forward is the fact that this motion that the member for Windsor–Tecumseh brought forward was done with no consultation with Caldwell First Nation, with the Wildland League, with ERCA, with the Unifor environmental committee, with the Friends of Ojibway Prairie. Any conversations that have happened from the government side have happened after this motion was tabled.

All through this process, whether it was my motion coming forward or my federal riding mate bringing forward Bill C-248, it was community-led, community-driven—their input, every single step of the way, and they’re still included. They’re still included; at least they are with me. And they’re still included and consulted by my colleague the MP for Windsor West.

We have not seen that from the Conservatives to date, and there are very real concerns from all of those stakeholders that, going forward, this is what they will continue to see: a government who treats them as an afterthought. It’s something we had to point out yesterday. They treat First Nation communities as an afterthought: “We’ve passed this bill, and now we’re going to talk to them. We’ve passed this bill, and now we’re going to share the spoils of the bill.”

Madam Speaker, I cannot overstate how important this is to my community, to the people within my community and to this natural green space, this very significant environmental space. I would hope that the Conservative members, instead of heckling about it, would actually consult with all the affected parties.

Further debate?

I will allow the member to continue.

It’s preposterous.

My son-in-law is the head of security in the biggest national park in the country, Wood Buffalo National Park, some 44,000 or 45,000 square kilometres. This is not obviously a park of that nature—not an urban national park but a national park.

What I will commend the member for Windsor–Tecumseh on is he did the research to see what was doable and what was not doable. Unfortunately, the member for Windsor West wanted it her way, which is how she acts in this House—always wants it her way. But we know that you’ve got to work with the partnership.

I want to thank the member for Windsor–Tecumseh for understanding what is actually necessary to get this done. The insinuation, quite frankly, from the member for Windsor West that somehow the way we’re doing it, without transferring the property, puts this land in jeopardy—quite frankly, she invents that scenario because it works for her narrative and she’s very upset that it’s not her motion that is being debated today and that her motion—

Point of order.

Madam Speaker, it is a privilege to stand here today in support, strong support, of a motion brought forward by the phenomenal member from Windsor–Tecumseh, a motion that would see our government build on our strong relationship with the federal government to deliver the Ojibway National Urban Park for the people of Windsor in a way that integrates the adjacent lands of the Ojibway Prairie Provincial Natural Reserve. I want to thank my colleague for his leadership on this file for protecting this land for generations to come.

Myself, I’m fortunate to represent Brampton North where we have tons of beautiful green space and access to water enjoyed by many of our communities. We have beautiful Professor’s Lake, beautiful Loafer’s Lake with access to the Etobicoke Creek Trail. We have the beautiful wildlife and scenery at Heart Lake. And that’s to say, Speaker, that Ontario is blessed with breathtaking scenery and wildlife that captivates people from all over the world.

One of the best resources we have in Ontario is our biodiversity. What’s so important for this motion that we’re talking about here today—this is a motion that protects that space for generations. Speaker, I would put forward to all members of the House, we have one planet. We all have a responsibility to be humble stewards of the planet. On this side, on the PC side, we understand our responsibility to be responsible stewards of planet Earth.

Now, the biodiversity with the Ojibway Prairie Complex is no secret. It’s home to a variety of vegetation and animal life. This includes a diverse ecosystem of wetlands, forest, savannah and prairie. It’s home to a number of rare plants, insects, reptiles, birds and mammals. Among these include some of my favourite animals, which are turtles. The complex is home to spotted turtles, Blanding’s turtles, among others. It’s also home to my favourite turtle in all of Windsor: the snapping turtle.

As the member from Windsor–Tecumseh has said, the city of Windsor, the town of LaSalle and the government of Ontario have already laid the groundwork for protecting these lands. Now it’s time to take it to the next level by completing the corridor and seeing the Ojibway National Urban Park come to fruition.

Speaker, this absolutely needs to be done in a way that supports flood mitigation efforts, in a way that protects endangered animals and in a way that protects natural heritage areas.

Traditionally, Ontario has worked closely with municipalities, not the federal government, in achieving best outcomes for protected and conserved areas; however, our government never shied away working with different levels of government and working with those across the aisle to provide Ontarians the best service and results possible.

I would end it by just making a plea to the members of the House: Don’t let partisan politics get in the way of a good idea. We have a real opportunity to protect biodiversity in the Windsor area. I hope you use your voice that the people elected you to—

I apologize. I’ll interrupt the member and remind the members that we can’t attribute motive. So I would ask the member to be careful in his remarks.

The member for Windsor–Tecumseh has two minutes to reply.

Mr. Dowie has moved private members’ notice of motion number 15. Is it the pleasure of the House the motion carry? I declare the motion carried.

Motion agreed to.

We have a late show, but I don’t see the member present to move it.

There being no further business, I declare this House adjourned until 9 a.m. tomorrow.

The House adjourned at 1739.

This is the motion that the House will get to vote on today. You know, we’re not dealing in the past. We’re dealing with a motion today that will protect that land in a very special way, and I want to thank the member for doing that. He listed all of the criteria. As the member for Windsor West said, her motion was only different in a few words.

Interjection: Eights words exactly.