I want to make one thing clear: Our government holds appointments to the highest regard. This is why this individual in question is no longer an appointee of the government.

Unfortunately, we cannot say the same about the opposition and the standards that this Leader of the Opposition holds her caucus to, following the disturbing comments a certain member of the opposition made this previous week regarding the situation and the massacre in Israel. However, while the opposition continues to coddle this individual, our government is doing the real work, and we are defending Ontario’s biodiversity, building Ontario’s common resiliency and protecting species at risk.

But when we talk about leadership, we are empowering conservationists, empowering ecologists, empowering biologists—not politicians—to make large-scale strategic investments in protecting species at risk here in Ontario. We’re making direct investments in protecting species at risk and the species at risk stewardship program. For instance, we’ve engaged over 14,000 volunteers in conservation efforts and created 1,700 jobs. This is how our government is building Ontario and protecting species at risk. And we’ve restored over 42,000 acres of habitat for species at risk, equal to nearly 100,000 hockey rinks.