It’s always an honour to speak in the House and, actually, it’s always a pleasure to listen to debate in the House. I actually enjoy that. Today, the bill we’re debating is An Act to amend the Greenbelt Act, 2005 and certain other Acts, to enact the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve Act, 2023, to repeal an Act and to revoke various regulations—Bill 136.

Speaker, I hope I have your indulgence before I start my debate—something big and bad happened in my riding yesterday, and I’d just like to take a minute to talk about it. It might not seem like a big thing to everyone, but to us, it is. Yesterday, Gay Lea Foods announced the closure of Thornloe Cheese by putting a notice on the door.

Now, Thornloe Cheese is emblematic for our riding. We saved it once from Parmalat, and we kept the quota and transferred it to northerners, and then that’s how Gay Lea ended up getting it. It’s one of the biggest issues we have faced, and just putting Gay Lea on notice that we’re going to fight for that quota again. Because Gencor, the company that had it before, and Gay Lea did a great job at marketing the cheese and showing what northern Ontario is capable of, and we’re not just going to wave goodbye. Just putting Gay Lea on notice. We want to work with them, whether it’s with them or with another cheesemaker, but we’re not letting Thornloe go easily or at all.

I see some nods, and I really appreciate that support. It’s amazing. I don’t know how many shares I’ve had when I put out the press release. Gay Lea didn’t even put out a press release, and we were just shocked. And I’m a Gay Lea member. I’m a shareholder in Gay Lea, and I strongly support Gay Lea all the time because they’re a co-operative, and co-operatives are supposed to be more cognizant of the community. Well, they weren’t cognizant of our community, and we’re going to fight back.

Interjection: Good job.

The bill is Bill 136. I’ve been in the Legislature for a while, and it used to be that when we’d report articles—we use articles, newspaper articles, to prove our point, right? And the Liberals, when they were in government, would use the Star, and the Conservatives: “Oh, the Star is so Liberal,” and the Conservatives would use the Sun, and it would be, “Oh, the Sun is so Conservative.” And—well, we don’t actually have a paper in the NDP, but—

But anyway, and then social media came along, and now we’ve got this—you know that nobody trusts mainstream media, and that’s a big problem, because media play an important role. But it’s hard. It’s hard now to find a media source that everyone agrees with on an issue. But I think I found one that everyone will agree with or disagree with equally.

I think I’m going to quote the Beaverton, date line, September 25—I don’t have the date right. Date line, September: “PC government introduces legislation to protect greenbelt from ... PC governments.” I think that’s about the best description that we could have of this bill. We’re supportive of the bill, but come on; let’s just go back a little bit. I listened to the other speakers. So, we have, in 2018, the Premier promising developers to open up the greenbelt. And then, oh, not opening up the greenbelt, and then, oh, opening up the greenbelt, and now locking the door, supposedly. Really. And it truly is the PC government protecting the greenbelt from the PC government or from the friends of the PC government. That is what’s really happening here.

So this government often talks about red tape, and do you know what? There is red tape in Ontario, and we should all look at where we can save red tape, but red tape is all through regulation. It keeps people safe, it makes sure that everybody abides by the rules, but what happened with the greenbelt is red tape got replaced by the brown paper envelope—it did—and the brown paper envelope isn’t good for society overall; it isn’t, and you all know it.

And I say this often, because people know that I am—I’m going to get myself in trouble here; it won’t be the first time. I’m on the right of the left. People must be so disappointed, especially in rural Ontario, who voted for Conservatives all these years and now have a Conservative government and thought that they would be listened to. And now, all of a sudden, many of the rural members—the members as well must be so disappointed, because—

Now, let’s be upfront: My speech today—

Interjection.

What I find most interesting about today’s debate is that a lot of the points of the debate about why you’re putting forward this act are the same points that we put forward while you were trying to carve up the greenbelt: save farmland, how important the farmland was, how important it is—all those points are the same points.

Now I remember what I wanted to say. My speech isn’t going to really change what’s going to happen. Let’s be clear. The government has got far bigger problems than what I am saying—far, far bigger problems. Before this government, I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a special prosecutor. I didn’t know the RCMP had a special unit to investigate possible threats to democracy. I didn’t know such a thing, but they are, and those 7,000 pages and who knows what else is coming up, Speaker. It’s not my speech that’s going to cause the members of this government the problem; it’s those investigations.

Now, the Premier said he was sorry. You know what? I’m willing to accept that. I just don’t know what he’s sorry for. Sorry for promising it the first time, then backing away? Promising it the second time, then getting caught and backing away? The government House leader says the public didn’t like it—100%. Neither did the Auditor General, how it was done, or the Integrity Commissioner, how it was done. Many of the things that members are talking about today on how it’s going to be done are how it should have been done in the first place—should have been done in the first place. And that is a huge problem because what Ontarians are still wondering is, has the government actually changed course, or just changed course where they’re getting caught? That’s the question. And it’s a very, very serious question because it’s two different things, changing course because you believe it or changing course because it just got too treacherous. That’s a world apart.

The government House leader, who I respect—I actually enjoy his company some days—said that there was too much political interference when he took over the file. So, how many of you were involved in that political interference? Or was it just the Premier involved? And how many of you are going to take the fall for that political interference? You can laugh at me, and some of you motion that I should go to the other side. I’m the happy person on the right because I know for sure I wasn’t at any of those meetings. I know for sure I wasn’t briefed on any of the things that happened. I know for sure. How many of you do? And that is a serious issue because it’s going to follow you. It’s going to follow you. I know many of you personally. I respect you all. Many of you didn’t sign up for this. Many of you didn’t.

So, we are going to support this bill, but has the government truly changed? Or just changed because you got caught? And if you will remember—some of you may remember—actually, I hope you don’t, because it wasn’t my greatest moment in this House. But when this government was first elected and you were so—oh, I get it, you were you elected and you were going to do things differently, all the “For the people” signs. I remember your first throne speech. I came in and there was a brass band here. I think brass, or was it—I’m not a musician. But there was a band up there and they were playing the theme song from the Game of Thrones.

Interjection.

Oh, I remember that distinctly, because I walked in here and I was looking for the arrow slits, because I thought maybe you’d made some other changes. And I remember distinctly thinking about that. I can’t remember what bill we were talking about, but it has to do with this bill—that this government, that government at the time, and I think still that the government—I was wondering if that was going to be their theme song, from the Game of Thrones. You know how our government had its theme song? And no, it wasn’t, because this government is too big for a theme song. It needed a theme band; it really needed a theme band. I still hold that. And I have some lyrics from the same band that I suggested should be the government’s theme band, and I’m going to read them into the record. It’s a great song. Some of you may remember this: 1980.

Interjection.

Too bad that you had to get caught,

That’s not like you to lose face.

So sad that you’re not as smart

As you thought you were in the first place.

Baby, I could use some of your persuasion ...

To wipe away ( ... wipe away)

the taste of your machinations....

It’s over,

Kaput except for the tail spin....

Save the dialogue ...

for the old men in the pool room....

Try it once, well I’m not so sure,

Try it twice and you’re by my door....

So sad that you’re not as smart

As you thought you were in the first place.

Too bad, too bad, so sad:

Too bad that you had to get caught,

That’s not like you to lose face.

So sad that you’re not as smart,

As you thought you were in the first place.

The money, no more than insulation.

(Too bad, insulation, too bad, insulation)

And this is a great line:

The getaway, (get get a-get a-get a-get away)

I watched with fascination....

The hideaway, Woooo! such imagination.

(Too bad, imagination, too bad, imagination) ...

I used it with no hesitation

This is a very serious issue; the song, maybe not so much. Doug and the Slugs—very appropriate. May Doug rest in peace—and I mean the real Doug, the singer.

But at this point, you’ve got an RCMP investigation—

Interjection: A special prosecutor.

Your issue isn’t the next election. That’s quite a ways away. Your issue is who’s going to take the fall, because there’s going to be a fall. There have been a few falls already, but there’s going to be bigger ones; there’s going to be bigger ones. Who do you want to take the fall for? And the question is, are they going to take a fall for you? I think that’s a very serious question that the members of the Conservative government have to ask themselves. It’s great, the all for one and the one for all, but who’s going to take the fall for you—for you, or for whoever is directing you? That’s a really important question.

And I hope tonight and the next few nights they actually spend some time thinking about it, because the RCMP usually do get their man or men or people or persons. Saying sorry and fixing this issue doesn’t make it go away; it doesn’t.

Thank you very much for your indulgence, Speaker.

When you created the housing task force, we were encouraged that maybe you would actually follow the recommendations. Our question is, why didn’t you? We all want housing to be built. Why didn’t you follow the recommendations of your own task force?

You know what? I can’t directly answer that question, but boy, actions speak louder than words. And each time, with the RCMP, the Auditor General, the Integrity Commissioner, then they start backing up. I think that speaks for itself.

The private sector builds houses. We’re not opposed to that. There are segments of the housing stock that the private sector is not going to build by itself. I’m a private sector person. Private sector builders need to make a profit and there are certain types of housing stock that they can’t make a profit at. With that type of housing stock, the government needs to help because with social housing, starter housing and all those things, a lot of them aren’t going to get built unless the government gets involved.

Should the government take over housing construction? No. But does it need to be involved? Absolutely.

Now they’re trying to slam the cookie jar shut and say, “Oh, oh, that won’t happen again. And all the other things that we’re doing? Oh, no, we’re not doing anything like that with the way the rest of the government runs.” Quite frankly, I think Ontarians don’t believe that anymore. They don’t.

When the Premier held his press conference this morning, his answers were so off the wall, it wasn’t even evasive; it was just from another planet. People don’t buy that anymore.

That’s actually a really good question, and I appreciate your listening. I don’t have the task force right in front of me—I support the task force’s recommendation that, actually, shortage of land isn’t the main barrier to building more housing in Ontario, despite what the government says. I very much support that. And this bill proves it, because if shortage of land was it, then you’re definitely not going to be able to reach your targets.

Is the task force perfect? I don’t think so, but they provided some very good recommendations, and one of the biggest ones, you chose to ignore.