Yesterday, Conservatives used the rules of this House to silence women, to ignore survivors and to shut down debate, sending Lydia’s Law to committee to die. Is the Solicitor General against having the Attorney General report on criminal sexual assault cases that have been held up, analyze the reasons for the delays and address them?

Good morning, Solicitor General. I heard you say, “Everyone’s welfare is important,” and I agree. I’m hoping you will also agree that the welfare of sexual assault survivors is also important in this province. As you will know, almost 3,000 sexual assault cases were thrown out of the justice system due to underfunding.

We had a bill, Lydia’s Law, by Catherine Fife—the MPP for Waterloo’s bill—that was going to bring sexual assault survivors to this House today, and this government discharged that bill directly to committee and didn’t allow those sexual assault survivors the opportunity to be heard.

So while you talk about how you’re tough on crime, and auto thefts are important, I would imagine that the welfare—I mean, these are property crimes, but we’re talking about sexual assault crimes that have allowed sexual assault perpetrators and rapists to go free in our province, and you cannot be happy with that.

I would like to welcome, from my riding of Waterloo, Sara Casselman, who’s the executive director of the sexual assault support centre. Welcome to your House, Sara, and thank you for participating in the press conference.