Ms. Lisa MacLeod: I stand by and behind my leader, Tim Hudak, as he brings forward this very important piece of legislation that puts Ontario families first. We are going to bring back respect and bring back relief to the taxpayers of this province through this piece of legislation, which will obviously be a cornerstone of our plan as we move forward in government in 2011 and 2012.

I want to congratulate the member for Niagara West-Glanbrook, who is also the leader of the Ontario PC Party, for taking the concerns of Ontario families and putting them together in this private member's bill that every member of this Legislature should get behind and support. We believe a sunset review of the many government agencies, boards and commissions across this province is needed so that we can justify each one of their expenditures for the people who are paying their bills-and that's the folks at home, whether in Nepean or Niagara. Certainly the folks who are paying our bills here today appreciate that, particularly during these tough economic times.

Of course, earlier last week we saw a provincial budget that has done a few things. One is, it still has a $17-billion deficit. We have a quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar debt in this province. Remember the time when you thought a trillion was not really a number at all because it was something that the Americans had as a debt? Dalton McGuinty single-handedly was able to double the debt in Ontario and bring our debt into the quarter-of-a-trillion-dollar area. At the same time, this is a Premier who has brought our province into have-not status. Shameful. He has grown our dependence on federal government handouts by well over 100%. And not only that, last Thursday, we were present when the sunshine list was released, and we saw that grow in a time of supposed austerity by 11%. When people in this province were told that they were supposed to cut back, when public servants were told that they weren't going to see a raise, Mr. McGuinty found a way to give an 11% increase on that sunshine list.

Of course, all week in the Legislature our leader, our deputy leader and many of my colleagues have been raising the fact that certain people have not done a day's worth of work in 2010, but received a quarter of a million dollars from the taxpayers of this province. I speak to Ron Sapsford. I speak about Sarah Kramer. I speak about the Montfort's Savoie.

All at the same time, we're learning that precious health care dollars are going to people who aren't even working for the province any more, almost to the tune of $2 million, while the Queensway Carleton Hospital that services my constituents is looking at a $2-million cut at the surgical unit. Ten weeks of rolling closures because they don't have the money, because-guess why? People like Ron Sapsford and others have taken that golden handshake.

Let me tell you why this fits into the bill that my colleague and my leader have put forward. He believes that every government, board, agency and commission must justify their existence to the taxpayer of this province. That includes the local health integration networks. We've seen a dramatic increase of the people making over $100,000 a year in those agencies, and at the same time, not one of those employees plugs in an MRI or treats a cancer patient; none of them are in the ER when a mother is waiting 10 hours with her child. I happen to know these things because I have a small child and I have spent some time at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, a long period of time.

We need to ensure that these government boards, agencies and commissions, and even our ministries, are doing what they should be doing. That's why our leader, Tim Hudak, wants members of this Assembly, regardless of political party, to play a key role in protecting vital health care dollars and public service dollars so that they are spent the way they are intended to be spent.

The people of this province sent us here for a reason, and they want to us stand up for them. So ladies and gentlemen, you have an opportunity to do that today. You have an opportunity to stand up and defend your taxpayer dollars and you have an opportunity to stand up with the member from Niagara West-Glanbrook. I urge you to vote "yes" on this piece of legislation.