Mr. Speaker, my question today is about protecting us from contaminated groundwater. The Kingston and Area Real Estate Association is circulating a petition about this issue.

After repeated questioning two weeks ago, the government has finally said yes to continuing free testing of well water, but it failed to commit to keeping the Public Health Ontario laboratories that do the testing.

Why won’t this government commit to protecting us from contaminated groundwater by continuing to keep open the regional public health laboratories in Peterborough, Orillia, Hamilton, Kingston, Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins?

There’s potential for contaminated groundwater in Wilmot township, where this government has told the region of Waterloo to assemble farmland for industrial use. Not only is that prime farmland at risk—across the road and downstream, you’ll find a cabbage farm where they make St. Jacobs sauerkraut; you’ll find a dairy farm where they also make award-winning Mountainoak Gouda cheese. In this region, if you need water, it has to be drawn from the underground aquifer. The Waterloo region is one of the largest groundwater users in Canada. Does this government realize that the aquifer must be protected?

How can these valuable agri-food operations be protected from contaminated groundwater with all the secrecy and non-disclosure agreements around assembling Wilmot’s prime agricultural land for industrial use?

Interjections.