So $46 million.

Despite what this government says and all of the talk they talk about a delegated authority and a regulator, despite all of that, I have seen this government hide behind a delegated authority time and time again. How about the Retirement Homes Regulatory Authority, delegated authority? What did the government do during COVID when people were dying in retirement homes? What did the government do? What’s her riding, the member who was speaking earlier about regulatory—

So delegated authorities: There are two sides of that coin. This government has hidden behind delegated authorities many, many times, and in this instance, they’re throwing the delegated authority regulator under the bus.

I just want to say that the people of Ontario are going to understand with this debate that you want their bills to go up and that you actually continue to have absolutely no climate plan, none whatsoever. This is a government that has no climate plan and neither does Enbridge. Birds of a feather, I guess.

But the city of Hamilton and many other cities across Ontario understand what is happening here, and they have taken the time from their democratically elected councils to move motions. I’m just going to talk about the city of Hamilton, whose motion was moved by Councillor Craig Cassar and seconded by Councillor Maureen Wilson. Essentially, they moved a motion which says they support the decision of the Ontario Energy Board to end the gas pipeline subsidy. Out of that, I will just excerpt a few of the pieces from this motion. It says:

“Whereas, natural gas is methane gas, which is a fossil fuel that causes approximately one third of Ontario’s GHG emissions, and must be phased out...;

“Whereas, the ... OEB decided to end a subsidy for methane gas pipelines to be built in new construction developments, effective 2025, finding that that this would lower energy bills for existing gas customers and improve affordability for new homebuyers”—so the OEB decision said it would lower energy bills and improve home affordability, just the exact opposite of what the government is saying. And that, finally:

“Therefore, be it resolved:

“That the city of Hamilton expresses the support for the decision of the Ontario Energy Board to end the gas pipeline subsidy and requests that the Ontario government allow the decision to stand.”

And they sent this resolution to the president of AMO. The Premier received this; the minister of—what did we call him—the minister of Enbridge, but actually, the Minister of Energy, Todd Smith; the Minister of Finance and so forth. So this government has received this, but no sooner did this government—my colleague wants to see that letter—but no sooner, can I say, did this motion pass—unanimously, I might say—at city council, and guess what? Enbridge wrote to the city council. It’s amazing, isn’t it?

I imagine, by the time I leave the chamber here and get back to my desk, I will have a call or a letter from Enbridge, because Enbridge is using a team of lobbyists to influence people, municipalities. They want to convince the province to overturn the OEB legislation, which we actually see happening now, despite the fact that the OEB came to an evidence-based decision after quite a long consultation. Again, it was made in the interests of the people of Ontario, not in the interests of for-profit corporations.

I’ll just say in passing, and people can put two and two together, but these two things exist in the same space, which is the Minister of Energy, who is—what is the word I want to say?—advocating, working for Enbridge against the interests of average consumers. His chief of staff is a former lobbyist for Enbridge—so, coincidence, possibly? I think not, but you be the judge. The Minister of Energy, who is siding with Enbridge over you as ratepayers and over you when your gas bills are skyrocketing—that minister’s chief of staff is a former lobbyist for Enbridge.

What is it my dad used to say? Well, I won’t even say it. But it’s really impossible to take this as a credible bill and as a decision that’s made in the interests of the people of Ontario, when we see that the lobbyists are all over the place and we see that they’re the minister’s own chief of staff. How in any way is that seen as impartial or credible? It’s not. This does not pass the sniff test, and you know it.

I would suggest that the way you’ve been spinning yourselves to try and justify this decision—particularly, I must say, the King’s Counsel members—is really shameful. It’s a discredit to your profession, to your training. Clearly, in the province of Ontario, the legal community is not happy with you guys at all, and I don’t blame them.

This brings me to another part of this government’s ongoing way they conduct business. Do they take the side of average Ontarians that can’t afford lobbyists, that don’t have shareholders, that don’t make large political donations? No, they do not. They take their direction from donors, from insiders, from big corporate interests, from lobbyists, from staffers who are right in the minister’s office. That’s who they take their marching orders from.

For the people at home, be clear: You’re just going to pay more. They want you to pay the costs of Enbridge’s infrastructure. They want you to pay for a hookup infrastructure that belongs to Enbridge so that Enbridge can then charge you not only for the hookup but charge you for their product. It makes absolutely no sense. They charge, charge, charge and charge again.

Then, this government will stand and stare you right in the face, full-face look at you and say, “Oh, we’re doing this to protect you because we have such a huge track record of protecting the average people in the province of Ontario. Trust us. We’re really on your side. Oh, who’s that behind us? No, those aren’t lobbyists. Those are not political donors.”

People don’t buy it, don’t believe it. That needs to be perfectly clear. People are on to this government. They know they don’t work for them. They know who this government works for.

But really, the member for Toronto–Danforth, in his excellent hour lead on this, said some of the government’s actions are shocking but not surprising. I agree—not surprising because fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. Or when somebody tells you who they are the first time, believe them. That’s what we have here.

This government’s penchant for interference, for putting their thumb on the scale of justice to tip it in their favour or in the favour of their friends, is unparalleled. This government started by wanting to invoke the “notwithstanding” clause to cut the number of Toronto seats in half because the Premier was in a pique. His feelings were still hurt, so he wanted to punish Toronto. No—