Mr. Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): The convenience store owners deserve respect for the hard work and long hours they contribute to the economy of Ontario. Instead, the Premier heaps scorn on these people by blaming them for his government's Lottogate scandal.

Jean-Luc Meunier, vice-president, central Canada, for Mac's Convenience Stores Inc., notes the obvious irony of the Premier's damning retailers for the failures of his government's own program and rightly points out that the issue is not their competence or their morality. He's too polite to say what I've been hearing from retailers in my riding, but they go much further and ask what right the Premier has to accuse them of failing in their responsibilities when the Premier's only concern has been protecting his incompetent minister responsible for the mess by focusing on a communications strategy rather than taking real action to fix the problem.

All of these store owners are disappointed by Dalton McGuinty's remarks that they can't be trusted, according to Dave Bryans, the president of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association. He expressed the hope that the Premier will reconsider his comments and give convenience store operators an apology. Elaine Abbas, who with her husband has owned and operated their store for almost 27 years, paid all their taxes, purchased various licences and complied to the letter of the law in all areas, all the while raising three children and working 14 hours a day, seven days a week, is insulted. She writes, "While Mr. McGuinty may question our integrity, our customers know us." She is absolutely correct. And now, with his stubborn refusal to offer his overdue apology to Ontario's 10,000 convenience store operators and 140,000 employees, all the people of Ontario know how the Premier lacks integrity and downright decency and respect for the hard-working people of Ontario.