It is kind of undemocratic. It is more than “kind of.”

So I would say that we should retain the voices of Ontarians in this Legislature, no matter how uncomfortable it makes individual government members. When I get up and I read the 413 petition, I know you’re mad at me and it gives you something to work with, but still, it has come to me as the critic for transportation from folks who have opinions. Why are they not allowed to share it?

If the government House leader and the government wants to modernize the petitions process—Ottawa. Some of them have heard of Ottawa. Some of them have been to Ottawa. Some of them think that they do things well there. In Ottawa, they have an online petition submission route as well, and here, we don’t. And I have no problem with having an in-paper, original-signature petition, but we’re not modern, kids.

There are opportunities, and we can talk about that, but this one, it just seems kind of that autocratic “this is how it will be,” and there’s no discussion, which is a problem.

Speaker, I also want to take the opportunity and raise that in these standing order changes, there are a lot of changes being put before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. I have personal interest in that because I have the privilege of serving in that role as the committee Chair. And so I guess I have a lot of questions that—when this comes before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, all of those changes, I’m wondering, logistically, what that will mean in terms of workload, in terms of responsibility, in terms of process. Because now we’ve got things like deciding a fee structure for private bills, whether $150, which I think it is currently, is too much, too little—I have no idea. I’m looking at this and I have no idea where this has come from. Has someone said it’s too much money, too little money?

So I don’t know where these changes are coming from, because certainly this is the first time I’ve seen it. The committee will have to figure out that sort of thing, and I would say that that’s a little bit in the weeds. That’s not necessarily a contentious thing; it’s just new.

But the committee deciding the membership of other committees, with the exception of its own committee—I think it’s interesting. The member from Timiskaming–Cochrane raised that it appears to move the responsibility for that to the committee. But, Speaker, as Chair—it’s a weird thing. It’s this non-partisan, kind of nebulous role that you’re maybe a referee sometimes. You’re not a member of the committee. You’re counted as a member of the committee, though. If there are seven government members and two NDP members, and one of them is the committee Chair, like in public accounts, that member is not allowed to vote, that member is not allowed to have a dissenting opinion, but they count as a member. There’s lots of stuff I’d like to talk about with committee structure, but I don’t believe for a second that, in reality, our committee is going to necessarily be able to make those decisions.

So I’m interested in the process, to know how people can be assured that the committee is able to work separate and apart from the Premier’s office. The PA to the Minister of Legislative Affairs sits on our committee. He’s a nice guy, and everything’s working well and we’re all getting along, but personally—and since the government House leader pointed out that I am “fiercely independent”—my mother used to say that I was so fierce. I think she was mocking me. Then the government House leader calls me fiercely independent. I don’t know if he’s mocking me or it’s just his assessment of me.

But I’m not convinced that I’m fiercely independent as a committee Chair. I’m pretty sure that I serve at the pleasure of the committee, and the committee serves at the pleasure of the government House leader, or the Premier or whoever else is making the decisions that get passed into any committee—not just this committee, all of them. The decisions that come in on a Post-it Note—all government members just nod and then vote that way, and turn back to their cellphones; that’s what it looks like. Not so much in our committee, so I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that maybe there will be a process that can better reflect the skills and expertise of folks in this room in terms of the committee makeup.

Speaker, I will leave it there. I think it will be some interesting work to talk about what else in this building might require improvement. But I don’t think for a second that I actually get to be fiercely independent—though I’ll try. I’ll try.

With that, thank you, Speaker.