Ms. Lisa MacLeod: To the Minister of Consumer Services: You refused to answer my question yesterday about repeated calls for a public inquiry into the 2006 collapse of One Step Travel. Why did you ignore a meeting request by the Association of Retail Travel Agents when they wrote to you just two months before Conquest collapsed, on February 3, about the serious and prevailing consequences of TICO's failure on One Step and the safeguards a public inquiry would have put in place to prevent further collapses of vacation companies that lack sufficient working capital?

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: Actually, I answered the member's question yesterday, and I want to say this again to the member: The first priority when a travel company fails, the first priority of TICO and our government, is to protect consumers and bring the people back if they are stranded outside in any region. That is our responsibility.

I want to ask the member-this happened in 2006 and this was an Ottawa-based agency. Do you not want us to bring those people back? Do you want us to leave them where they are stranded? Is that what you want us to do?

Not only that, but this issue was raised in the annual general meeting of TICO last year, and TICO has ordered a third party review and I am waiting for the recommendations of that review. As I said yesterday, if any recommendations come out of it that we need to implement, we will do that.

Ms. Lisa MacLeod: "Wow," is all one can say-wow. But the Premier himself has often said that the best indicator of future behaviour is past behaviour. Minister, your mandate is to protect Ontario's consumers, yet your lack of oversight, accountability and apparent regard for what TICO has done has been pitiful. On June 25, 2008, an Ontario Court of Justice criticized TICO for not doing its job and said, "Should TICO have sanctioned One Step much earlier, perhaps the offences would not have resulted." On June 24, 2008, at a TICO AGM, members called for a public inquiry into the demise of One Step Travel. On February 3, 2008, as I just mentioned, ARTA asked you for a meeting to discuss a public inquiry into One Step, and on March 5, 2009, you told them you were too busy.

Minister, isn't it true that had you acted on TICO's failures with One Step, you could have prevented the collapse of Conquest?

Hon. Harinder S. Takhar: What is really true is that Ontario is very fortunate. There are only two other provinces in Canada that actually have a fund that protects consumers. TICO did everything to protect consumers and bring them back.

I think the member has missed an important point, which is this: My understanding is that the case of One Step involved some fraudulent activities, and charges were laid. The independent view was ordered, and we are waiting for the recommendation of the independent audit. If there are any recommendations that will come from that, we will implement them. But the important thing here is for TICO to act quickly and as fast as they can to bring people back into the country so that they don't suffer and they are taken care of. That's what TICO did, and I'm not sure that any of these activities could have-

The Speaker (Hon. Steve Peters): Thank you.