Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): We come here every day waiting for the government to wake up and respond to the needs of Ontarians and to northerners. It is approaching three years and still we have no plan to deal with the challenges facing our province, and in particular the needs of the north. The only plan we have seen is that you have increased hydro rates at a dramatic rate.

It is more expensive to live in northern communities. Everything costs more, and the government continues to find ways to add to the financial burden faced by northern Ontario families and businesses.

There is no plan to seriously address the infrastructure deficit in the north. Last summer, Liberals announced their ReNew Ontario program, but it is no more than hollow words. There will be no actual spending until 2007.

Northern communities have aging systems that need replacement. People across northern Ontario have been on boil-water advisories, sometimes for years. Infrastructure is vital to building a successful economy in northern Ontario, and this government has not been providing the leadership they should. Your government has sat idly by while the problems in the forestry industry have gotten worse. You've sat idly by while mills have closed and jobs have been lost. You have sat idly by watching, doing nothing, while people have been forced to leave their communities because there are not enough jobs.