My question is to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. Before the March break, in a brief elevator conversation, the minister and I had a discussion about what our plans were when we’d be going home for the March break. Part of my plan was to continue the ongoing tour that I’ve been doing in lumber mills and forestry operations across northern Ontario.

Well, Minister, the report card is in. Do you think you received a passing grade?

That’s quite a question. Do you know what? In talking with the forestry sector throughout Ontario, talking with mayors, talking with people all throughout the sector, I think we are getting a passing grade. We are making investments in the sector that are unprecedented. And I’d highlight the recent announcement of $60 million to support our biomass plant—$60 million to drive innovation, to drive the future of forestry in Ontario, to make sure that there are opportunities not only today but tomorrow.

Speaker, we will continue to drive that innovation. We will continue to work with our forestry partners. We will continue to make sure that northern Ontario thrives, grows and is part of the great economy right here in Ontario.

It’s absolutely astounding to me that the member opposite would stand up and say that. They had years to support a Liberal government that made no investments in the forestry sector. They did not push them at all. They did not make sure that forestry was a significant part of the economy here in Ontario—but we are, every single day.

We are talking with the mill operators. We are talking with the forestry operators. We are making sure that we’re making critical investments in the north. We’ll continue to do that, because this is the only government that recognizes the value of the north. We’ve heard time and time again that the north was referred to as a “no man’s land” by the previous government.

Well, this government knows the opportunity that lays within the north. This government is working with the forestry sector. This government is working with sectors throughout northern Ontario to drive economies, make sure that people have prosperity, make sure that we can integrate the economy in the north with the economy in the south and have a strong, prosperous Ontario.

I make no apologies for the efforts that we have made in northern Ontario and will continue to.