My question is for the Minister of Natural Resources. Seven months ago, forest firefighters across Ontario travelled thousands of kilometres to meet Minister Smith to talk about the tragic realities they face, to be reclassified and recognized as firefighters. Their minister told them he couldn’t make any promises because he wanted to make an informed decision.

Speaker, the fire season is upon us again. The Minister of Labour said yes yesterday, that forest firefighters can receive presumptive WSIB coverage for occupational diseases, but they voted no last week to an NDP motion to do exactly that.

To the minister: Can you confirm how this will be done?

I have a petition from the Canadian Federation of Students.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas since 1980, whilst accounting for inflation, the average domestic undergraduate tuition has increased by 215%, and the average domestic graduate tuition by 247%; and

“Whereas upon graduation, 50% of students will have a median debt of around $17,500, which takes an average of 9.5 years to repay; and

“Whereas the average undergraduate tuition for international students has increased by 192% between 2011 and 2021, and in colleges, they pay an average of $14,306 annually compared to the average domestic fee of $3,228; and

“Whereas the government of Ontario made changes to OSAP and student financial assistance in 2018-19, resulting in over a $1-billion cut in assistance to students; and

“Whereas the so-called Student Choice Initiative was defeated in the courts, students need legislation to protect their right to organize and funding for students’ groups;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, support the Canadian Federation of Students–Ontario’s call and petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to commit to”—I fully support this petition, and I will give it to Ella to bring to the Clerks’ table.

When we look at what the tendency in the world is that is happening, we’re heading more in the direction of green energy. We have the energy board saying that we should not go to natural gas; that we should go more to green energy—and we need to protect the consumer, because we know it’s a dying industry. Go back 20 years, when coal—and then we went to natural gas. Well, guess what? Natural gas is the coal now. So we need to go to green energy.

What do you have against protecting the consumer? It doesn’t stop you from building houses. All you need to do is put an incentive to put heat pumps and other energy-efficient things. But no, you prefer protecting Enbridge, to the cost of consumers. Why do you do that?

What I’m saying is that if they want natural gas, Enbridge can bring it and then they just pay their bills. Why should it be consumers paying the bill? Why is it okay that they pay $300 to $400 more for the same bill? It’s wrong. It’s taking money away from people who should not be paying. An independent board said, “No, this is not the way to go. Enbridge should pay to connect.”

What’s wrong with this picture? What’s wrong is that you seem to side with a company that is making $16.5 billion over consumers. Consumers are all your people too. Why would they pay $300 to $400 more? It’s wrong. Some of these people are struggling. I know they’re struggling in my riding. They’ve got to be struggling in your riding also. We all have them. So why is it okay? Where is it okay to—

Interjections.

It’s unfair to the consumer. It’s unfair to the consumer, and to give that power to the minister—I agree with you; it’s wrong. They shouldn’t. They should have an independent tell us—don’t forget. There’s no competition when it comes to natural gas. So why is it that we are bending to Enbridge and passing this cost to the rest of the consumers? It is wrong. People are struggling. We’re having a hard time, and this is not the time to put another $400 or $300 on their bill.

I was hearing you speak, and I spoke on this. We have a lot of constituents who are having a very hard time. I know everyone has lots and lots of constituents who are struggling right now to make ends meet and to be able to “mettre les deux bouts ensemble,” to be able to pay the bills.

Can you talk on your end about your constituency? I know you named a few—but can you talk about how difficult it is? If they have another $300 to $400 gas bill, how much are they going to struggle, and how much is it going to hurt them? I know if they do it in my riding, they’re going to hurt, and that may mean that they’ll lose where they’re going to be staying. So I’d like to hear from you on that.