Last Thursday I asked the Premier to provide a price tag on the excessive advertising in Ontario and in the United States. I referred to these commercials as “fictional,” because they do not portray what is really happening in Ontario.

Transparency in Ontario’s finances actually matters to us in the official opposition. Budget priorities should focus on where the people of Ontario need the investment most. This is a pattern both Liberals and Conservatives share, and it requires a history lesson: In 2015, the majority Liberals pushed through a bill that changed the rules on government advertising.

This significantly limited the Auditor General’s ability to reject ads that served to promote the party in power. In her annual report, the then-Auditor General said the legislation “opened the door to publicly funded partisan and self-congratulatory government advertising ... primarily to present the government in a positive light rather than to inform,” and we agree.

During the news conference following that legislation change, the AG called a number of the recent government ads—at that time, Liberal ads—“self-congratulatory.” She said that under the previous legislation, before 2015, she would not have approved them “because they don’t provide any information to the public that they need to know.”

Ironically, my PC fellow finance critic and colleague at the time, the member from Nipissing, accused the Liberals of wasting taxpayers’ money on self-promotion. We agreed. In 2016, he said, “They’ve cancelled diabetes testing strips. They’ve fired nurses.... In my hometown they’re closing 60 beds in a hospital, but they can find $20 million for self promotion. That’s egregious.” Well, if the member thought that was egregious then, I wonder what he would call it now.

Today, health care organizations and leaders are calling what’s happening in the province of Ontario the worst health care crisis in our history. Ontario saw 203 emergency department closures, largely due to the shortage of nurses as a result of the government’s unconstitutional Bill 124. There are 2.3 million Ontarians, Madam Speaker, who do not have a family physician. This number rises to 4.3 million by 2026. Regions across northern Ontario declared a health state of emergency, but somehow, this Conservative government can find $25 million for ads that the Auditor General is once again saying “foster a positive impression of the government” rather than inform. If the situation was egregious in 2016, it is shameful and embarrassing today.

The previous AG also railed against the ad changes at the time, as did the Progressive Conservative government. And I want to remind all of you on the government members’ bench that the Conservatives actually promised—you promised during the 2018 election to reverse these Liberal rules but decided otherwise once in government.

Speaker, government investment should be prioritized based on the needs of Ontarians. We spent December to February as finance committee travelling this great province. Loud and clear, we heard health care, education, justice, not-for-profit asking, begging this government to do their job by investing in those sectors. Nobody is asking for any of these fluffy commercials. And we heard overwhelming evidence to suggest that without these immediate investments, Ontario is at a tipping point.

Let me say, just last week, we heard from a doctor who’s 76 years old who cannot give up his practice because there is nobody to replace him. He is showing better leadership in this province than this government. Imagine if we actually had a Premier that put people at the centre of decision-making processes. Instead, I’ll quote today’s Star editorial: “There is more at stake here than who gets a seat on the gravy train. With ... ill-considered appointments and incendiary comments, this Premier is following an appalling example and playing a disturbing kind of politics.” Insiders win. Self-interest is at play. Legislation is reversed when discovered to be highly questionable or illegal.

Ontarians deserve so much better. Lives matter more than your commercials. We feel that this province of Ontario, this great province, is worth fighting for. We feel that you need to demonstrate that kind of leadership. You need to tell us how much money you spent on these egregious, egregious commercials. And this Premier needs to do his job, Madam Speaker.