The days since October 7 have been some of the darkest and most difficult many of us have ever experienced as legislators, as leaders in our communities, as people of conscience. As we have watched the news and our social media feeds, the horrific images from Israel and Gaza have triggered a cascade of emotions, from horror to outrage to grief to anger to shame. It has been agonizing to witness but impossible to look away.

For some of us, Speaker, those with connections to Israel and Palestine, these emotions come from a deeply personal place. We heard yesterday in this House moving and powerful words from MPPs who are Jewish, who are heartsick with worry about family and friends in Israel and how the heinous terrorist attack on innocent Israeli civilians has been experienced as an attack on all Jews. We share the anguish that was expressed here in this House and across our communities about the violent taking of hostages and the devastating loss of more than 1,400 lives to Hamas terrorism, including young people, grandmothers, pregnant women, babies. We categorically condemn these despicable acts. We recognize the unimaginable pain and trauma caused by Hamas terrorists for Jewish communities globally and right here in Ontario.

We also heard during yesterday’s debate moving and powerful words about the humanitarian nightmare that is facing innocent Palestinian civilians, who bear no responsibility for the actions of Hamas: 3,000 Palestinians have been killed, many of them children; 10,000 people in Gaza have been wounded; hundreds of thousands are being displaced by an evacuation order but have nowhere to go or are unable to leave. Food, water, fuel and electricity have been cut off. A hospital has been bombed. Borders have been blockaded.

Speaker, the motion before us this morning calls on this House to censure the member for Hamilton Centre for a social media post that caused harm. It failed to acknowledge the terrorist attack by Hamas, the war crimes that were committed on innocent Israeli civilians. The member apologized publicly for her statement and posted a clarification, recognizing the harm. She reaffirmed her agreement with our party’s position that strongly and unreservedly condemns the criminal terrorism perpetrated by Hamas, while also recognizing the suffering of innocent Palestinians and the war crimes that are happening in Gaza right now in real time.

We have called on the government of Canada to advocate for the immediate release of all hostages, including Canadians; the protection of all civilians in accordance with international law; a ceasefire and end to the siege and bombardment of Gaza; and to ensure the urgent, life-saving humanitarian assistance that Gazans so desperately need. Anything less is a betrayal of our values and our humanity.

On Monday I attended the reception held by the Council of Ontario Universities. I spoke to a university president and asked about the priorities and challenges her institution is facing. She said that, without doubt, the biggest challenge right now, the challenge that has been consuming her executive team, is ensuring the safety of students and staff on campus in the wake of the conflict.

Globally and here in our province, we have seen a disturbing rise of hate, an increase of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, the need for increased police presence near Jewish community spaces and places of worship, and the vandalism of mosques. Members of this House need to ask themselves, will this motion help students on Ontario campuses feel more secure? Will silencing a member who has family in Palestine and who has apologized for a social media post that she realized caused harm—will this contribute to de-escalating the tensions that are growing in Ontario? Will it help make Ontario’s Jewish, Arab and Muslim communities feel less at risk?

The answer is no. Like the motion that was debated yesterday and will come to the floor again this afternoon, this is a divisive motion that is driven more by a desire to distract from their own scandals and RCMP investigation than by their obligation to support Ontarians during a time of incredible trauma and stress in the face of horrific pain and suffering that will only get worse.

The motion also sets a dangerous precedent, Speaker, by effectively barring a member from participation in this House, from the ability to speak and advocate on behalf of the people who elected her just six months ago, because the government does not like the apology she posted on social media. This is a drastic step that should not be taken lightly.

As public officials, our words matter. Our actions matter. We have a choice before us today with the motions that will be debated now and later this afternoon. We can either use our words and our actions to unify Ontarians and promote harmony, or to inflame and incite further discord. We have a responsibility not to raise the political temperature here in Ontario, not to put Ontarians at greater risk. We urge this government: Do not exploit this horrific conflict for their own political gain. Now is a time to bring people together, to acknowledge the pain and advocate for peace and an end to this bloodshed that has already taken too many lives in Israel and Palestine.

Speaker, the official opposition cannot and will not support this motion.

You know, normally I stand in this Legislature knowing exactly or somewhat close to what I’m going to say, but today I’m not sure, because I stand with mixed emotions: sadness and anger—a lot of anger, listening to the debate of my colleagues in this Legislature. I run that array of emotions again and again and again.

I think maybe what I’ll do is I’ll start by talking about my neighbourhood that I grew up in and how it relates to the tragedy happening overseas.

I grew up in North York, Speaker. I’ve said that in this House before. In North York, one of the proudest emotions I have about my neighbourhood is, every time I walk down the streets, I see everyone from every corner of the globe, living happily next to each other. It is very much a microcosm of our global society, and I’m so proud of that—because you know that I come from South Korean roots. My parents immigrated here 50 years ago, and they have the story of so many Canadians: You come here with a dream and, with hard work, you can go from very little to giving your kids a better life than you would have had. That’s what my parents did. That is their legacy for me.

I can’t help but notice throughout my neighbourhood—and I visit every cultural group, every religion, with great pride, as I said—that our Jewish friends have it a little different. Their schools are fenced in. Their synagogues have to have police patrols, extra security measures—things that we don’t understand or that we don’t have to go through. And it makes me mad. One per cent of Canada’s population are Jewish community—two thirds of hate crime in our country. That doesn’t sound like a fair deal to me.

Speaker, I can go on at length about October 7, like my colleagues have described on the tragedies—but I don’t think I can, because when I see it on the news, when I see it on social media, when I hear about it, I get very emotional. I just don’t think I can read the remarks in front of me this afternoon. I just don’t think I can do it.

But Speaker, I do want to quote Martin Luther King, who once said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

It was the previous Speaker in the 41st Parliament who once reminded the members of this Legislature—it was on my orientation day in 2018; I will never forget it. The outgoing Speaker, Speaker Levac, said, “Take a look. It says 1867 there,” the year of our Confederation, of course—right above your head there, Speaker. On the outside of the building, though, it says 1792 because this is the oldest Parliament in our country, when it was, of course, Upper Canada, before Canada was formed. This Legislature has sat since 1792. Speaker, do you know what that means? In the history of our country, in the history of this Legislature, just about 3,500 people have had the privilege of calling themselves MPPs. That’s not a big company that we have the privilege of joining here, when we stand in our place, and we say what is in our mind and we have the right to stand as parliamentarians, duly elected in this great province, the best place to live in the entire world.

Now, I don’t take that lightly. I don’t think any of us do. But I am so angry. I am so angry and disappointed, Speaker, that today, we have members from the opposition who are silent on the tragedies happening in Gaza—silent. And, Speaker, I’ve got to tell you: That silence is deafening. It is louder than their loudest screams, and I have heard them scream loud, at the top of their lungs, in this Legislature, and today I hear nothing. And I think that’s shameful.

Leon Brown once said, “History repeats itself endlessly for those who are unwilling to learn from the past.” And here we are. Here we are today with an opposition who is clearly demonstrating that they are unwilling to learn from the past.

In fact, members are smiling as I’m speaking, and I don’t understand how. I do not understand how. There is nothing funny. There is nothing happy about what is happening today with the situation in Gaza—nothing.

Your silence is also deafening when it comes to the treatment of your member from Hamilton Centre. I’m floored that we haven’t heard a single member from the NDP stand in their place and condemn the words of the member from Hamilton Centre—not a single member. Now, let me get this straight. The Leader of the Opposition will stand in her place, stand in front of the media, and say that what the Hamilton member said was wrong. That’s what the Leader of the Opposition will say on the one hand, yet that member still has a spot in this Legislature. Explain to me how that is possible.

So how do we reconcile that? How do we square that, Speaker? Was the apology from the Leader of the Opposition real? Were her words saying that the member from Hamilton Centre’s words were wrong? Were they real? Does she believe that the government is simply playing a political game here? Does it sound like we’re playing a game here, Speaker? This is not a game. October 7 was a tragic day for the world and now you have people condoning those acts of terrorists beheading babies, taking hostages, 1,300 civilians murdered—slaughtered in their homes.

If you are not going to be vocal on this, then what will you be vocal of in this Legislature? No talk of the six Canadians; no talk at all from the opposition. Not one member decided to stand today, given the opportunity to speak—not one. There is absolutely no justification to support the violence that took place on October 7. There is no justification to say that Hamas did anything noble at all. Those terrorists need to be held to account and we need to recognize those horrific acts here, in this Legislature, and your silence says exactly where you stand—on that side of it.

You can hear them speaking now, Speaker, and I guarantee you, what they’re not speaking of is this situation. What they’re not speaking of is how to condemn the member from Hamilton Centre for her words.

You know, it’s crazy to me. This is—it’s crazy to me. I go home sometimes and my wife wants to talk about current events, and this is the one topic where I ask her, respectfully, “Please, can we not?” But you know what? Last night we did, because she wanted to know a little bit more about what the member for Hamilton Centre had said.

Now, Speaker, I made a decision, for a variety of reasons, several years ago to give up social media and going actively on to it. It’s turned toxic; it has at many times. There have been members of this Legislature who have named my family, without evidence, in this Legislature, and that social media has turned into a place of hate against people in my family who were named here, without evidence of corruption, and then given racist behaviour at their place of business. I decided to give up social media for personal reasons. But I went back on.

Do you know what astonished me when I went back on to social media yesterday, Speaker? I just about fell out of my chair. The member from Hamilton’s hateful post had been pinned for the world to see. You know what else was shocking to me, Speaker? That there wasn’t some public apology pinned on top of that hateful post. I had to look for the apology, buried in the comments underneath that very hateful post. And it was a half-baked apology. You would be stretched to call it an apology. And you know what, Speaker? The other part that just jumped out at me from my phone—it makes me so angry to say this—is that that Hamilton Centre member’s post had been viewed over three million times. I’ll repeat it: History repeats itself endlessly for those who are unwilling to learn from their past.

I have family who remember World War II; we all do. We all know someone who remembers back to those times, to the Holocaust. I’ve met Holocaust survivors, and no way you can ever imagine what they’ve gone through. My wife’s grandfather John Horbaczyk was in Auschwitz, and he’s the only one in his family who made it out. John Horbaczyk passed away at the age of 93, 10 years ago, and it’s the one thing he never talked about with my wife. But his scars, his tattoos: They said all that we needed to know. History repeats itself endlessly for those who are unwilling to learn from their past.

Speaker, this isn’t just a terrorist attack, as horrific as it is. This is a sign to the world that we have to wake up, that history, indeed, repeats itself, and it is today. And I’m terrified for what that means for our next generation and the generation beyond.

We have a responsibility in this House, we have a duty in this House, being one of only a few thousand people to have that privilege to stand in this House, despite our disagreements, to stand up for what is right, to condemn what is wrong. And with the strength you stand in your place and you defend what you believe is right, so too must you stand in your place and condemn what you believe is wrong.

Today we see an opposition silent. And that silence is deafening, Speaker. It speaks volumes about what they believe is right and wrong. “There comes a time when silence is betrayal”—Martin Luther King, Speaker—and we’re seeing that time right now. The NDP have betrayed the people of this province. They have betrayed the Jewish community. They have betrayed those who stand against terrorism. They have betrayed their constituents.

Interjection.