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October 24, 2024

43rd Parliament, 1st Session

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Hansard Transcripts

vol. A

Hansard Transcripts

vol. B

Votes and Proceedings

Orders and Notices

Hansard Transcript 2024-Oct-24 vol. A (PDF)

L172A - Thu 24 Oct 2024 / Jeu 24 oct 2024

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ONTARIO

ASSEMBLÉE LÉGISLATIVE DE L’ONTARIO

Thursday 24 October 2024 Jeudi 24 octobre 2024

Orders of the Day

Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à oeuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq

Members’ Statements

Elevate Plus

Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day

Right to Heal RedPath Programs

Tenant protection

Events in Scarborough–Agincourt

British Home Child Day

Operation White Heart installation

Riding of Scarborough–Guildwood

Community Leader Awards and Thanksgiving Dinner

Greater Napanee

Correction of record

Introduction of Visitors

Death of member’s husband

Question Period

Government accountability

Government’s record

Child care

Transportation infrastructure

Hospital parking fees

Skilled trades

Home care

Health care

Public safety

Indigenous relations

Mental health and addiction services

Taxation

Social assistance

School facilities

House sittings

Business of the House

Sir George Beardshaw

Reports by Committees

Standing Committee on Government Agencies

Petitions

Pharmacare

Caregivers

Social assistance

Social assistance

Social assistance

Social assistance

Social assistance / Addiction services

Social assistance

Employment standards

School nutrition programs

Addiction services

Social assistance

Orders of the Day

Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à oeuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq

The House met at 0900.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Good morning. Let us pray.

Prières / Prayers.

Orders of the Day

Working for Workers Five Act, 2024 / Loi de 2024 visant à oeuvrer pour les travailleurs, cinq

Mr. Piccini moved third reading of the following bill:

Bill 190,

An Act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labour and other matters / Projet de loi 190, Loi modifiant diverses lois relatives à l’emploi et au travail et à d’autres questions.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Would the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development care to lead off the debate.

Hon. David Piccini: It’s an honour to rise for third reading of Bill 190, Working for Workers Five Act.

Speaker, I just want to start by saying thank you for your service. We will miss you. You have been a great mentor, friend, for so many of us and I know, most importantly, for the people you serve, so thank you.

I will be dividing my time with the parliamentary assistant, the great member for Ajax. I look forward to continuing to work with her. I know we’ve got our critic here today as well. We’ve got a good team. We’ll be talking workers in this great province of Ontario.

I want to acknowledge the support of the member for Ajax and her instrumental role in this bill: her leadership, her advocacy in particular for women in the workplace and, most importantly, for our next generation. She’s brought a lot of skill and thought to this bill and in particular the portion on apprenticeships, and I look forward to speaking about that later. But thank you so much for your friendship and leadership on this.

I also want to thank the Premier for his leadership, for always keeping an open door, always returning the calls of workers in this province and enabling our ministry to continue the incredible work that we do. The team: Deputy Meredith and our team at labour, immigration, training and skills development, the incredible public servants who work there every day. And last but certainly not least, my ministerial office, political office team, who have worked many long hours to make this bill possible. I’m very grateful for them.

Speaker, I want to just close on our thanks by acknowledging that this is a team sport and a team effort. We have, as I mentioned, the members for Ajax, King–Vaughan, Brampton Centre, Brantford–Brant, Scarborough Centre; folks speaking to the bill today—Mississauga–Erin Mills, Peterborough–Kawartha, Thunder Bay–Atikokan, Mississauga–Malton; and all of the caucus and cabinet colleagues who have contributed to this bill.

But most importantly to the workers: firefighters, unions, employers, newcomers, businesses, industry associations and so many more, all of whom are counting on us to do the right thing, who are helping us to deliver better training, better jobs with a bigger paycheque and a better future in this great province of Ontario.

The government is building on the progress we’ve made in previous Working for Workers bills. As I’ve often said, we’re getting to the point where we’ve almost had more trilogies than the Harry Potter series, because it keeps getting better and better and better. We’re doing this, Speaker, because these first-in-Canada measures that I’m going to speak to today would, if passed, open pathways into the skilled trades, remove barriers to employment, protect front-line heroes and workers and support women at work. This new bill builds on the strong success of our previous Working for Workers bills that this House passed in 2021, 2022, 2023, and again this past March.

The current legislative package contains a number of regulatory amendments that would bring meaningful change to assist people in finding good jobs, increasing worker protection and supporting newcomers in this province of Ontario. It’s not lost on anyone that, as I speak to that today, we’re set to find out news from the federal government—who have not communicated to us or any of the provinces—on some of the changes that they will be making today. But I look forward to that briefing.

We’re introducing new measures that would make it easier for youth and others to get on a fast-track to well-paying careers in the skilled trades, proposing to change and remove barriers to employment. In our Working for Workers Five Act, if passed, we’ll include wildland firefighters, we’ll include investigators in presumptive coverage for PTSD. Beyond these legislative changes, we have also made regulatory changes to expand presumptive coverage for heart injuries and occupational cancers to wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators.

Our bill, if passed, would support women at work, especially women who currently represent only one in 10 workers in the skilled trades. This bill would advance overall workplace fairness, discourage employers from ghosting job seekers and increase fines for employment standards violations to the highest levels in Canada. It would protect job seekers, elevate the common courtesy of fairness and transparency and help get more people into long-term rewarding careers by continuing to put workers first. We can spread opportunity and good-paying jobs, strengthen worker protection and supports across Ontario and tackle the skilled trades labour shortage and promote economic growth.

I want to lead off and start first by talking about front-line heroes and workers. In reviewing the details of this bill and complementary measures, there are some important people we must talk about first and lead off: those heroes. These are the people who ensure we sleep safely at night and provide the reassurance when we most need help in our lives. I’m speaking, of course, of those who risk their lives for ours, Ontario’s firefighters. They run towards danger as we run from it.

In every corner of our province, firefighters, fire investigators and volunteers put their lives on the line to keep our families and keep our communities safe. These front-line heroes deserve a government that values their service and sacrifice. They have more than earned the stronger protection—the more expansive coverage and protection that we are proposing in this bill.

In the time that I’ve been Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, I have listened to firefighters’ concerns. I’ve heard from municipal firefighters, investigators and volunteers, as well as wildland firefighters and investigators, including concerns about getting the supports they need and deserve if they fall ill from disease. They are at higher risk because of the dangerous work they do to keep us safe—the occupational exposures that they are subject to.

That’s why our government is proposing to change the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act that would reduce the duration of employment required prior to the diagnosis for entitlement to presumptive coverage for primary-site skin cancer from 15 to 10 years, once again leading Canada with the lowest duration of time served in the country.

I think it’s important to note there, Speaker, because I was recently at a meeting of Ministers of Labour where this was brought up, and they almost said, “You’ve got to slow down in Ontario because you’re making the rest of us look bad.” I don’t view it that way. I think Ontario leading the way sets a high benchmark for the rest of the country to follow. But we don’t do it just because, Speaker; we do it because we’re challenged. We’re challenged by the great men and women who protect our communities.

I want to give a special shout-out to the OPFFA for their incredible advocacy to their members, who are fighting fires across Ontario, and the incredible work that they do to advocate for firefighters, because behind this advocacy is a story of a firefighter fighting a disease as a result of occupational exposure, who, at their core, want to make sure they are supported, and their families—most importantly, their families and their loved ones.

If passed, the changes we’re proposing would allow more firefighters and investigators suffering from occupational cancers to access the WSIB benefits and services they need and deserve—again, serving those who serve.

Growing scientific evidence shows that firefighters, including wildland firefighters, are at increased risk of developing skin cancer because of their exposure to carcinogens and various hydrocarbons found in fireground dust. The proposal builds on the government’s progress from four previous Working for Workers acts.

In June 2023, Ontario expanded presumptive occupational cancer coverage for firefighters and fire investigators to include primary site thyroid and pancreatic cancers, making it faster and easier for them to gain WSIB compensation and services.

The Working for Workers Four Act lowered the required employment period prior to diagnosis from primary-site esophageal cancer from 25 to 15 years. That was a very significant and emotional announcement in Welland, and I know how many people were instrumental in that.

I’d like to take the opportunity to again thank the member for Thunder Bay–Atikokan, Kevin Holland, for all of his incredible advocacy and leadership on this file. Not only is Kevin Holland a volunteer firefighter, but he has been a strong advocate for those firefighters. He has had more ministers in Thunder Bay, more colleagues, than I think we could shake a stick at, and he’s now a member who has done such a remarkable job to advocate for his community. It’s not just about bringing ministers up, it’s about bringing colleagues in this place to share the stories of the people you serve, and he has done a remarkable job at this.

In this bill, I’m introducing legislative changes to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act that includes wildland firefighters and wildland fire investigators in the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board presumptive coverage for PTSD. This is further complemented by a regulatory change to the firefighters regulation to include wildland firefighters and investigators in presumptive WSIB coverage for occupational cancers and heart injuries.

Our wildland firefighters need the support they deserve for the heroic work that they do. Over 1,000 people worked as wildland firefighters and investigators during the 2023 wildland fire season. Of course, in March 2024, we announced an investment of over $5 million to attract, retain and recognize wildland firefighters and their staff. I know everyone in this House today sees the importance of standing with these front-line heroes.

My mission, and that of our entire government, is to build a province that leaves no one behind. This was the motivation when we created our ability to super index WSIB benefits above the annual rate of inflation so sick heroes can get the support that they need and focus on their health and not struggle with the cost of living.

This cost of living is something we hear about so often at the doors, and really drives the motivations of this government to put more money back into people’s pockets. It’s a fundamental belief that when you empower people to do more with their hard-earned dollars and put more money back into their pockets, we can drive a thriving economy.

It’s not lost on me, or anyone, I think, when we look to the progress as a government, that by putting $8 billion back into the economy, we have grown revenue to over $214 billion from just over $150 billion. That’s truly remarkable. When we do that, we can do more for workers—because every worker deserves to come home safely at the end of their shift.

I want to acknowledge, on the firefighter work that we’ve been doing, the partnership. This is a team piece and a team sport. I’m so grateful to have this opportunity, but it has been made special because of the people I’ve gotten to know as a member and as a minister.

Some of those special people I want to recognize: Greg Horton, Bob McCutcheon, Gavin Jacklyn, Dan Worrall and so many more. Their leadership to stand up for firefighters, to take the time to educate the people of this place to the unique challenges they face—they deserve recognition. Thank you for your leadership.

Behind their leadership are stories in our own communities. I’m looking forward to hosting, on Monday, here in this place, if passed—I look forward to bringing colleagues from my own community. I think to Rick Ash, a volunteer firefighter in Hamilton township; Jeff Briggs, who is the OPFFA union rep in Cobourg who has been working with Rick battling on occupational exposure. These are the stories. I first met Rick at the fish ladder in Cobourg, volunteering his time, teaching a next generation the importance of angling—I didn’t know this at the time.

We’re grateful for our volunteer firefighters in Northumberland county, Peterborough county and beyond, and I want to thank Rick for his service, and I look forward to having him here at Queen’s Park.

In addition to protecting front-line heroes, one of perhaps the most rewarding things I’ve gotten to do in the ministry, working with the incredible team at MLITSD, has been opening pathways to the skilled trades. I want to talk now about another everyday hero: men and women in the skilled trades. For too long—too long—skilled trades, construction and manufacturing were viewed as a sort of plan B. Not anymore. Under the leadership of this Premier, we are promoting multiple career pathways, because when you have a job in the trades, you have a career for life—a career for life.

They are the heroes building the stronger province we want: the hospitals, the schools in communities like mine, the new hospital we’re fighting for in Campbellford, new schools that we so desperately need, new roads, highways, bridges, public transit—I mean, just stop and think for a second—the tunnelling going on right now on the Ontario Line, the largest low-carbon public transit project in North America—the largest—happening right here in our province, the largest-ever investment—the largest investment—in public transit in Ontario’s history.

Talk to the skilled trades men or women, for example, who are working on that tunnel project taking home six-figure salaries. At the age of 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, you can be earning six figures. You can be economically self-sufficient. You can have agency, purpose, stand on your own two feet and drive a meaningful career. Not only that, but you can look back and be part of a generation that can proudly stand back and say, “I built that. I built that important piece of Ontario—part of the fabric that makes this province great.”

I’m grateful for those who came before us. Why are we pushing people into pathways into the trades? Because one in three—one in three—journeypersons are retiring. We stand on the golden generation of those men and women in the skilled trades who came before us, who built this building, who built this province.

I think to my own family story. There’s nothing special about my own story, but my own grandfather came here and worked in the trades, built a life and a family for his son and now his grandson who stands here in this place. That is the story of so many in Ontario and in Canada.

Our government is taking policy and legislative measures to attract more young people in the skilled trades. Building on the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, OYAP, we’re creating a new stream called the focused apprenticeship into the skilled trades, or FAST. It will allow students in grade 11 and grade 12 to participate in more apprenticeship learning. Most importantly, it will allow the learning that they do in that apprenticeship, those hours, to count toward their level 1 C of Q—those levels that you take before becoming certified in the skilled trades.

I want to use my own experience or that of Raven and Phoenix that I met at St. Mary’s in Cobourg. I think back to my own experience, I could take a course that would count towards a dual credit, count towards my university degree. If we’re going to say a life in the trades, a career in the trades, is as important as all of the other equally as rewarding job paths, then why can’t we offer those same experiences for those who pursue their passions in the trades.

Today, if this bill passes, we will be able to be do that in the province of Ontario, and I’m optimistic that, in 2025, we’re going to see this happen. I’ve got a feeling this place is going to pass this bill. I don’t want to presume it, but I know because we’ve been working with members of the opposition on this bill, we’ve been working with members all over this House. This piece, for our next generation, surely we can put our partisanship aside and support this.

Graduates would receive a new seal on their Ontario secondary school diploma to signify their successful completion, recognize their dedication to learning the skilled trades. It’s part of the Premier’s 2023 commitment to expanding options for students entering the skilled trades.

I want to give a special shout-out to Principal Barker, Alex Duketow, Mr. Kightley and the incredible team at St. Mary Catholic Secondary School in Cobourg. I was just there last week—two weeks ago, I think—to see the great work that they’re doing with junior achievement—John McNutt, Wayne Snow and the great team empowering youth. I referenced Raven and Phoenix, two young women. I want to take a moment to pause—women in the trades.

We cannot build the things we want to build ignoring 50% of our workforce, and these two young women, boy, if the look on their face and the quality of that handshake would dictate their future, they are set up for success. They had purpose in their eyes and that incredible team at St. Mary’s was moulding the hearts and minds of our next generation and setting them up for success.

We’ll make it easier to find apprenticeship opportunities for those young girls by launching a new online job-matching portal for potential apprentices, because it’s more than just the big environments we see in the GTA, it’s the incredible job union partners are doing, college partners are doing in rural Ontario. When I think to Devries in Brockville, in Kemptville, that I visited with the member for Leeds–Grenville.

When I think to Henderson Construction in my own community, I think to contractors, to the small electrical shop, a one-, two-, three-person operation—how are they going to succession plan if they don’t take on apprentices and mould that next generation? With our new online job-matching portal, we can match those apprentices seeking employer sponsors with those employers seeking apprentices. This will be a game-changer and a first in Ontario because we don’t have a dedicated provincial system to match those apprentices with employer sponsors today, but we will thanks to the leadership of this Premier.

We’re proposing additional measures to increase access to apprenticeship training for individuals who cannot meet academic entry requirements to register as an apprentice. This would create alternative pathways. When I talk about academic credentialing, I’m not talking about those in high school today.

I’m talking about those who are here, for example permanent residents, Ukrainians, people who fled war-torn countries, who didn’t stop to say, as bombs were dropping, “Oh, I’ve got to bring my diploma, my degree.” I couldn’t tell you, if I had to leave Ontario today, where mine is—I’m embarrassed to say that, I should know. We have to have alternative pathways to acknowledge competency. One of the biggest challenges we face with respect to our GDP and lost opportunities is not leveraging the talent of those who are in Ontario today who are under-employed.

In an effort to tackle that, we are making changes and future regulations under the Building Opportunities in the Skilled Trades Act to launch pathways so that those who have skill sets and competencies can better join the ranks of the men and women in the skilled trades who we so desperately need in Ontario.

To meet this challenge, not only are we making these changes, but we’ve made the largest investment into the skilled trades in this province’s history: a $1.5-billion investment with the Skills Development Fund, both the training and the capital stream. For the first time ever, we’re investing in this province in training halls, in union training centres and we’re building a bigger coalition as a result.

Premier Ford had a number of building trades endorsements in the last election because they know that their paycheque, their job and their future success depend on a government that says yes to building, yes to getting shovels in the ground, yes to having the difficult conversations and attention we so desperately need from all partners—municipal and federal, and regulatory bodies—to get those shovels in the ground and to get men and women into the workforce, working, taking home a paycheque.

To date, we’ve helped people with better jobs, better training, bigger paycheques: over 92,000 manufacturing workers; 66,000 construction workers; 36,000 PSWs; 27,000 mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction workers.

This bill includes measures to make it a bit easier to get into the trades, but we’re not stopping there. Another important measure is the tech ed requirement to earn your Ontario secondary school diploma, again led by my colleague the Minister of Education. I want to acknowledge the work that has been done there. You will hear more about that from the member from Ajax, but this is a remarkable new move, bringing shop class back to high schools, mandating a tech ed class.

Common sense isn’t all that common, but imagine a next generation that are actually learning to use their hands, learning in a tech class, learning financial literacy. God forbid we learn how to write cursive again, Speaker. These are the common-sense changes that we’re bring back into the classroom to empower a next generation to be more self-sufficient. I will take you back to St. Mary’s in Cobourg and those young students I saw on a lift, learning how to use their hands. This is a generation that will be self-sufficient.

My wife constantly reminds me that when we have issues around the house, I’m useless. I’m going into training centres as Minister of Labour and I’m learning a thing or two. I think we can all acknowledge that teaching our next generation to be a little more self-sufficient is a good thing.

I want to just close on the work being done to support women at work, to build what we want to build. It’s an all-hands-on-deck approach. We know that an economy that doesn’t work for women does not work at all. For the first time in Canada—in Canada—we are making changes to the Occupational Health and Safety Act to require that we have a number of things, like proper sanitary schedules in washrooms. We are mandating menstrual products to be provided on larger construction sites, properly fitting PPE, safety equipment, for women on the job site.

I was recently at a meeting of Ministers of Labour, and we heard from a power worker, a technician, an electrical worker, a woman who was wearing coveralls that were down to her knees, working twice as hard just to keep up to her male counterparts, because she is wearing PPE, personal protective equipment, that doesn’t fit. Surely, we can do better. We can have properly fitting protective equipment for all body types and sizes.

That is why we are proposing these regulatory and legislative changes to require constructors and construction sites to ensure that the washrooms they provide are kept clean, bringing the same expectations on Bay Street to main street, ensuring that women are protected on the job site.

This is a direct response to advocacy from tradeswomen and other sector stakeholders, and it has been welcomed by leading employers like EllisDon, just to name one—a big shout-out to our Prevention Council and to the work that Steve Chaplin from EllisDon is doing. He has introduced now a number of women on job sites who have been such remarkable advocates. I think to Lindsey, a young woman I met at Local 27 in Toronto. I think to Local 183 and some of the young women I have met there who are taking that next step, becoming self-sufficient.

I think to Oaks Revitalization, partners we are partnering with, giving people a second chance, people who have been in a revolving door of justice. Some measure success of those individuals by how much more we can spend as a government on either Ontario Works or on various programming and services; we measure success by helping those people, giving them a second chance and teaching them to be self-sufficient.

It’s been a remarkable opportunity meeting some of the women, like Lindsey, who came up to me—Lindsey is with Local 183—at Mattamy Homes, on health and safety day. She has been a justice-involved individual and now stands as one of their health and safety ambassadors. I met her in Oakville at a project—real story—through Oaks Revitalization. I want to thank her for her advocacy for so many women in the trades.

We are doing so much more in this bill, removing barriers to employment and ensuring that those who have come to this country are able to practise. The old adage, “My cabbie or Uber driver is a doctor”—we’re working with the Fairness Commissioner to ensure pathways to working, and that healthy tension with regulatory bodies to make sure they have a plan and a pathway to credential. We’re making sure that it’s time governed from six months—we’ll be making changes soon to lower that to three—and working to ensure those regulatory bodies have a plan.

Behind all of these changes are people, again. I want to especially thank all of those who’ve opened their doors to me, whether it’s the settlement agencies, like the newcomer centre in downtown Toronto, Sara Asalya and her team; whether it’s the OCASI team where I just spoke; whether it’s our union training partners all over this great province; mining companies in the north; Indigenous communities that I’ve been invited into to hear about challenges and pathways; the new mobile training that we are bringing into communities to help people get better training, better jobs with bigger paycheques.

That is at the heart of this bill, to empower workers in the province of Ontario, because as this province changes, we need to ensure that we have a workforce with the skill sets and the mobile and nimble training to support them to build a better province that we call home, Ontario.

There is so much more in this bill, Speaker. I’ve riffed a bit off into stories from my own riding that really are a driver—and I know the driver of everybody in this place: the people we serve. It has been an absolute honour to work with all of them on this Working for Workers bill. Again, like Harry Potter, like the trilogy, it keeps getting better and I’m proud to turn my time over to the great member from Ajax.

Thank you, Madam Speaker, and thank you to everyone in this House who has been a part of this bill.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): As the minister is sharing his time, I recognize the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Ms. Patrice Barnes: Thank you to the minister for the lead-off on this. I am pleased to rise for third reading of Bill 190, Working for Workers Five Act, 2024, alongside the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

I want to once again acknowledge the leadership of the minister and the work of the entire team at the ministry to support workers across our province. Every day, I witness their dedication and the devotion of the minister to getting things right for workers across this province.

I want to take a minute to do a shout-out to all the different organizations, unions and associations that we consulted with. I just want to give a shout-out to the police association; the Ontario firefighters’ association; the Ontario Chamber of Commerce; the various unions, such as LIUNA, Unite Here, OPCMIA, sheet metal workers, IUPAT, UA, heat and frost insulators; and the medical association. Of course, this bill was also posted publicly on the public registry for input, which was amazing, to get some of the feedback on that.

We’ve also reached out, when we were consulting about the health piece on critical illness, to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, as well as the OFL. I’m so glad that we have had the opportunity to speak to these organizations, unions and associations to get feedback to put into this bill.

I’d also like to, once again, thank Premier Ford for his leadership and support of our government’s action and trail-blazing legislation for Ontario workers. He truly leads by example, working for workers to make sure we help to make Ontario’s dream a reality for others.

I’ve had the opportunity, in this portfolio, to meet some amazing women that are doing great things within the trades. I want to give a shout-out to Rok from the carpenters’ union who has moved up through the ranks, and now has spent a great amount of her time getting other women into trades and being a leader and really mentoring young women. I’ll also give a shout-out to Kristi Slade with IUPAT. She also started out as a union member and she is also now, as a representative in downtown, really inspiring and mentoring other women in trades.

Our government’s fifth Working for Workers Act will support women in skilled trades, protect job seekers and improve access to skills development. As a woman and a working professional, I’m proud of the proposal we’ve introduced to further support the women of this province at work. Our government is committed to the growth and success of women in the workplace—and so are we.

We’re prescribing regulatory requirements for menstrual products on certain job sites, expanding current requirements for clean and sanitary workplace washrooms to all places to which OHSA applies and proposing to expand what is considered workplace harassment in an effort to encourage more women to join the labour force.

Canadian research, as recently as 2022, has clearly shown that women are more likely to be subjected to workplace harassment, including online harassment, than other workers. We know that people who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination—like gender, race or disability—are more likely to be harassed. This includes online harassment as workplaces change and more people work from home. Many workers now telecommute, they work from home, either all or part of the time or a lot simply take work with them to meet deadlines and get things done.

Virtual workplace harassment is something we increasingly need to make sure we are protecting workers from. That is why, as part of this bill, we are proposing to modernize the Occupational Health and Safety Act to include virtual harassment. Our government’s proposed amendments would add virtual harassment to the

definitions of workplace harassment and workplace sexual harassment in the act, ensuring that workplace policies to address harassment in the workplace also cover online harassment. We are acting to reflect the realities of the modern workplace in our legislation and to better protect workers no matter where they perform their jobs. Our planned consultations on more potential changes to prevent and address complaints and incidents of workplace harassment will help to ensure this protection remains current and effective. Harassment is unacceptable.

Whether it’s online or face to face, our government’s message is simple—we need to stop it, and we are working to ensure just that. Addressing virtual harassment is a timely and important change for all workers, especially women.

I would like to talk a little bit more about other important changes our ministry is proposing to specifically support women in the trades, particularly in the construction industry. We have seen an increase of women working on construction projects and we have heard their requests to make their workplaces more inclusive. In fact, in 2022, a survey of Ontario tradeswomen in construction cited better washroom facilities as one of the things needed to make this type of work more appealing and welcoming to women.

To help ensure this, we amended the construction projects regulations to require that, as of January 1, 2025, menstrual products must be provided on large construction sites. The construction projects affected would be those with 20 or more regularly employed workers and that are expected to last three months or longer.

While only about 13% of workers in Ontario’s construction industry are women—and only 4% of skilled trades-related workers in construction are women—we want to increase this number. When women only represent one tenth of our construction industry, we are tying our hands behind our back at a time when we need all hands on deck. We are working to support women and promote their role in the skilled trades and to ensure they know that they also belong.

To bring better, cleaner, washrooms to all workers as part of our latest Working for Workers package, we’re proposing a new requirement under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for washrooms provided to workers. While in construction it’s already a requirement for washrooms to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, we are now proposing rolling out a similar requirement across all types of workplaces across the province.

To ensure that this is a regular practice, constructors and employers will be required to maintain records of cleaning for each washroom based on requirements to be prescribed by regulation in the future. This requirement would allow workers to check when washrooms were last cleaned and help to keep the people in charge accountable. Washrooms in the workplace or job site need to be kept in a clean and sanitary condition, not just for workers’ health, but also for their dignity. No worker should be confronted with or have to endure a filthy, unsanitary room while they work.

This is especially important for women; we’ve heard about women having to leave the job site to access a washroom, or, unexpectedly, something happens where their flow is early and they are stuck on a job site without proper menstrual products. It is something most of us take for granted, but it should not be that way, and every Ontarian deserves a clean workplace.

The hard-working people of the province who show up day in and day out to do their jobs need and deserve for all constructors and employers to do their part. To further protect workers, we will as well consult and expand the types of equipment that are to be provided on construction sites. Equipment such as defibrillators is something that can make the difference between life and death in the event of a sudden cardiac arrest. This is in addition to steps such as a comprehensive ministry review of traumatic fatalities in the construction sector, led by Ontario’s Chief Prevention Officer, Dr.

Joel Moody, as well as incorporating asbestos-related data in the ministry’s forthcoming occupational exposure registry to improve our efforts to prevent future asbestos-related illnesses.

We have moved on to another piece, as well, around sick notes. To better protect employees, increase fairness and, importantly, reduce unnecessary burden on health care providers, we are proposing a change to the Employment Standards Act to prohibit employers from requiring sick notes for the three unpaid sick days employees are entitled to under the act. We want to put patients before paperwork, while at the same time reducing the paperwork burden for health care professionals.

We propose to do this by prohibiting employers from requiring a sick note from a medical professional for an employee’s job-protected sick leave under the employment act. To maintain accountability in the office without creating unnecessary paperwork for health care providers, employers can still request another form of evidence that is reasonable in circumstance, such as an attestation. Future ministry guidance would be developed to inform on this.

We would also like to help people avoid unnecessary trips to the doctor’s office when they are sick. This means fairness for employees who can better recuperate at home. It also means better safety for health care workers and the public, who would see less exposure to people with communicable diseases looking to complete paperwork, and more protection for patients in waiting rooms. It would mean many hours saved for primary care providers, and really align with our goal to reduce the burden on health care.

According to the Ontario Medical Association, family doctors spend 19 hours per week on administrative tasks, including four hours writing notes or completing forms for patients. Let’s get those paperwork hours back for them to spend caring for patients rather than performing administrative tasks.

I want to emphasize that employers would still have tools available to maintain staff accountability, such as requiring an attestation or asking for a pharmacy receipt, depending on the circumstances. This is all about reducing unnecessary burden on our health care system by giving employees the opportunity to recoup at home. This complements the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board’s effort to collaborate with health care sector organizations as they explore additional measures to reduce administrative burden for sick and injured workers and health care professionals. We are prioritizing patients over paperwork, ensuring our workers have the support they really need.

I would also like to talk about workplace fairness. We want to send a message that employers who break the rules and exploit or endanger workers will face consequences. That is why we’re proposing changes to the Employment Standards Act that would, if passed, double the maximum fine for individuals convicted of violating the act, from $50,000 to $100,000. This would make Ontario’s maximum fine for individuals the highest in the country and send a message to unscrupulous employers.

We have also increased the penalty that an employment standards officer can issue for certain repeat offenders by five times. It is a change from $1,000 to $5,000. And it would be available for officers to issue on third or subsequent contraventions of the same provision.

We are making it clear to bad actors and repeat offenders that their actions are unacceptable. From less than the cost of some cellphones to a much more significant penalty, especially when it is multiplied by each employee affected, these changes are designed to make bad actors think twice before they violate the act and to give the courts and our officers more leverage to appropriately penalize those who do, levelling the playing field for Ontario’s majority of responsible employers.

Speaker, I’d like to also echo an important proposal within Working for Workers 5 that Minister Piccini spoke to, and that is requiring employers to disclose in publicly advertised job postings whether a position is vacant and to respond to applicants they have interviewed for those jobs with specified information within a specified period of time.

It is not fair, after all the work, preparation and stress a job interview entails, to have applicants kept in the dark and waiting, many times with no reply, after they have been interviewed for a position, especially in cases where some employers do not have a currently available position but are simply building a pool of potential applicants for the future. Our proposed changes would help end that practice and bring fairness and dignity to job applicants.

I would also like to take the opportunity to remind everyone that effective October 1, 2024, Ontario has increased the minimum wage from $16.55 to $17.20 per hour. This 3.9% annualized wage increase is based on the Ontario consumer price index and brings Ontario’s minimum wage to the second highest of the provinces of Canada.

We have also talked a lot about the increase of penalties. Our government and our ministry will continue to work with municipalities and courts to make sure that these bad actors are penalized, fees are recovered and employees are looked after.

All of these changes have one goal in mind: putting workers first. An economy that isn’t for workers doesn’t work at all, so, through our Working for Workers packages, we have been making and plan to continue making common-sense changes that put Ontario’s workers in the driver’s seat.

The themes the minister and I have been speaking about today are not new. In fact, this government has been supporting heroes and workers in all of its Working for Workers legislative packages.

In 2022, we stood up for members of the Canadian Armed Forces. We expanded military reservist leave to cover time spent in Canadian Forces military skills training and reduce the amount of time military personnel need to hold a job before they can take the leave, with their jobs protected, from six to three months. In 2023, we improved military reservist leave once more, expanding the reasons for the leave and further reducing the time reservists need to be employed before taking such leaves.

We have worked closely with our firefighters. The firefighter presumptive coverage improvements outlined today also build on improvements in 2023, when we expanded presumptive occupational cancer coverage for firefighters and fire investigators to include primary-site thyroid and pancreatic cancers, as well as further improvements this year, when the act was amended to reduce the time firefighters and fire investigators need to have been employed prior to diagnosis to receive presumptive coverage for primary-site esophageal cancer, from 25 years to 15 years.

We have been protecting the safety and dignity of workers from the beginning of the Working for Workers series.

We remember that legislation passed by this House in 2021 gave delivery workers the basic human dignity of access to a restroom at businesses they are serving. In 2023, we improved washrooms for construction workers by updating requirements for clean, well-lit and properly enclosed washrooms on all construction sites. And we improved job sites for women by requiring women-specific washrooms on larger sites, as well as requiring that properly fitting personal protective equipment and clothing be available for workers of all body types, making construction work safer, dignified and more inclusive.

To demonstrate our seriousness and commitment on workplace safety to bad actors, in 2022, we increased the maximum fine for corporations convicted of Occupational Health and Safety Act violations to $2 million, emphasizing our goal of putting worker safety above all else.

We have also been proactive around the opioid epidemic’s effect on workplace safety, enacting legislation in 2022 that certain workplaces have life-saving naloxone kits on-site and workers trained on how to use them. Ontario’s workplace naloxone program was the first of its kind in North America. Everyone’s life has meaning, and naloxone gives people the second chance they deserve. This initiative has saved lives and makes Ontario a safer place to work.

Fairness for employees and job seekers has been an ongoing theme of this government’s improvements since 2021. To protect vulnerable workers, we first introduced mandatory licensing of recruiters and temp agencies.

And we followed up last year with changes that, once proclaimed, will require employers to disclose the expected compensation, or range of compensation, in publicly advertised job postings, to ensure job seekers have clear information about the pay they can expect before they decide to apply. We have heard the stories, and we might even have experienced it ourselves—where you have applied for a job, you have jumped through all the hoops, you have interviewed, you’ve prepped yourself, you’ve got in and you found out that the pay was less than attractive. I’m sure quite a few of us have had that experience.

So being able to see that posted, we can be like, “Is it worth my time? Should I even try?” So I’m so thrilled about the fact that we have this. We want to ensure job seekers have clear information about the pay they can expect before they decide to apply.

We also ensured fairness for hospitality and service sector staff by clarifying and introducing some important employment standards—clarifying that employers cannot deduct wages when customers dine and dash, gas and dash, or otherwise leave without paying. It is so unfair for people who are working in these jobs to be responsible for people’s unethical behaviour.

Clarifying that employees must be paid for trial shifts—and requiring employers to disclose if they have a policy of sharing in employee tips and post it in the workplace. We have heard so many times—and oftentimes new immigrants, who are invited to come and work and try out the job, and they’re there for a couple of days or sometimes even longer doing these jobs that, at the end of it, they don’t get paid for because it was a trial shift. We want to stop that practice of taking advantage of others.

We are also requiring employers who pay tips using direct deposit to allow their employees to select which account they want them to be deposited into.

Speaker, we are moving on to other parts of employment as well.

In order to ensure fairness for Ontario workers, it’s important to keep our laws current with regard to new technology and applicable to real life. And that is another thing we have accomplished through the Working for Workers series. Technology in the workplace has transformed how we operate, communicate and innovate.

In 2021, we addressed this by introducing a requirement for larger employers to have a written policy on disconnecting from work—that doesn’t work for us, but it’s good that we are putting it in for others—to help safeguard people’s personal and family time in an era when work can easily follow you home. In 2022, we followed up to help protect employees, with a requirement for large employers to disclose how they are monitoring their employees electronically.

We have also made changes to the Employment Standards Act to ensure that employees who work solely on a remote basis are counted for mass termination provisions and can receive the same protections as their in-office counterparts.

Speaker, our government has, as well, been working to get people into jobs through the Working for Workers packages. We have been ensuring that red tape and unfair practices don’t stand in the way of newcomers, who aspire to contribute to our communities. In our last package, we made changes that, once proclaimed, will prohibit all provincially regulated employers from including a requirement for Canadian experience in a publicly advertised job posting or on application forms. This was a natural follow-up to our 2021 prohibition on Canadian experience as a requirement for registration in more than 30 regulated professions and compulsory trades.

This is such a big game-changer for newcomers. A lot of newcomers were caught in the cycle of: “We can’t hire you because you need to have Canadian job experience,” but nobody wants to hire you to give you the experience. But the minute that one employer took a chance on you, then you became attractive to so many others. We want to make sure that we are levelling the playing field for our newcomers.

We are working to help put newcomers on a path to success by enabling them to resume their careers in Ontario jobs that match their skills, including skills that we need and where job vacancies exist in sectors like health care and the skilled trades. This is why we’ve also been addressing the barriers internationally trained individuals can face when having their qualifications assessed. We have made changes that, once proclaimed and implemented, will improve transparency and accountability for the assessment of qualifications by regulated professions and third parties.

Speaker, as we have heard, this new Working for Workers legislation package extends the groundbreaking supports and improvements already helping millions of workers across the province, by protecting the health and dignity of workers and front-line heroes, ensuring fairness for employees and job seekers, supporting women at work, removing barriers for employment and making it easier for more Ontarians to start a career in the trades.

We have also worked so very hard with our school boards and with different organizations to help change the stigma around trades. It used to be if you weren’t considered academically smart, then the trades were for you, with a nudge, nudge, wink, wink. But now we want to really change that stigma. We wanted to see that our young people recognized that a job in the trades is a career for life. You have a skill that you can take with you wherever you go, and it is a very good and high-paying job.

We’ve also had the opportunity with our Level Up! career fairs to really talk to parents, because as new immigrants, a lot of parents will be like, “I didn’t come here for you to be a plumber. I didn’t sacrifice and pull up my life and move to a different country for you to be a carpenter.” They want a doctor; they want an engineer. And so having these discussions with parents around the ability of somebody, for their child, to be a tradesperson that gives them a very well-paying job, that they’ll probably get into the minister’s six figures without even having a loan to have to pay off at some time.

You’re owning a house faster; you’re owning a vehicle faster. I remember speaking to a young lady that had gone on to be an electrician and her mom was not very thrilled that she was doing that. She started changing her mind when she bought a car, and then she bought her mom a car—so, you know, her mom started changing her thoughts about the value of her being in a trade.

So we’re working very hard with our school boards and with different organizations to be able to get youth to really look at a job in the trades. I know I spoke to one school board that had 800 students that were actually interested in getting into a trade, and that is an amazing change to what we are doing.

With our ministry, now we’re really focusing on speaking to those employers about welcoming these new young ones into the trades and into the workplace. I don’t want to work with my 16-year-old, and so some of these companies don’t necessarily want to work with 16-year-olds in the workplace as well. But having those conversations about changing what the workplace looks like, changing what mentorship looks like, changing what opportunities are available for young people—because, as we’ve talked about, we know there’s a silver tsunami, and we need to actually start building a succession plan.

Somebody said to me what I thought was really good—I actually can’t remember where I heard it, but in talking about the trades, they said, “The lawyers work in the buildings that you build; the doctors work in the buildings that you build.” Everything happens based on the trades and construction industry, so we want to get our young people to really think about fast-tracking into the trades and being able to have potential careers for life.

We’re accessing every tool in our tool box to work harder for workers each and every year, and to not only protect workers but to also keep and attract more workers to our province in order to ensure that Ontario’s economy remains strong. As I’ve said, the themes aren’t new. We’re building upon the past bills we have introduced under the leadership of Premier Ford, and we will always remain committed and keep working to protect and support this province’s working people.

I call on all members of this House to join me in supporting Bill 190, Working for Workers Five Act, 2024.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Questions?

MPP Jamie West: Thank you to my colleagues for their debate.

One of the things I learned working in health and safety is that sometimes you can make bad decisions with good intent. I’m afraid, in this bill, we may have done this. I think there was good intent on this.

The previous Working for Workers bill allowed regular firefighters access to WSIB presumptive coverage, and we’ve transferred this now to wildland firefighters. We heard from Noah Freedman during deputations that we’re missing the point on this. The reality is that these wildland firefighters, that yearly rate—they won’t hit the threshold. They’ll have to actually work twice as many years because their seasons are half-years, because things don’t catch on fire in the snow.

Not only that, but there’s actually more risk of carcinogenic effect to them. There isn’t a path to fresh air. They regularly touch soot with their bare hands. They don’t have access to showers and the ability to change their PPE.

I put forward two amendments to address this. They were both voted down at committee. I’m asking: Would the Ministry of Labour please make the changes that are needed so we can help out these heroes who protect our forests?

Hon. David Piccini: As we’ve always done with this bill and others, we’re always open to constructive recommendations. I know MNRF employees, their seasons do count as a year, so are scoped in. Anyone outside of that that may feel they’re missing in this, we’re absolutely happy to look and address that, as we’ll continue to do, working with firefighters. I just got off the phone last night with Greg Horton, head of OPFFA. We have a great relationship—constantly working to ensure that we’re responsive to their needs and look forward to continuing to do that.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Mr. Deepak Anand: I want to acknowledge and thank the minister and the PA for an incredible job. As you know, I have worked on Working for Workers 1 to 3. We always talk about these bills as common-sense bills. The people of Ontario, when they suggested something to do, we listened to them, and we acted on it.

Minister, something which we’re all concerned about is the grey tsunami that’s hitting the skilled trades. There is a generation of workers in construction that are on the verge of retiring, but we don’t have the workers to replace them. This could have really negative impacts on ensuring that we have the workers to build the roads, highways, hospitals, infrastructure that we need. To you, what are we doing through this bill and how are we supporting Ontario?

Hon. David Piccini: Thank you very much for that question. I think it is important and very relevant that we tackle those incredible men and women and the silver tsunami he referenced, that generation that’s retiring—that we increase pathways.

So whether it’s FAST, the focused apprenticeship, getting those hours in grade 11 and 12 towards your level 1 and, ultimately, your certificate of qualification; whether it’s mandating a tech class, bringing back common-sense changes to our schools, ensuring tech classes, bringing back shop class; removing barriers for internationally trained men and women in the skilled trades; expanding funding through the Skills Development Fund for pre-apprenticeship programming to help people try a trade—I think to our Try a Trade program in my own community.

These are all part of a holistic effort to expand access into the trades so that we get more young men and women into this career.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

MPP Jamie West: My question is for the Minister of Labour. There are 11 items in this bill related to washrooms. Basically, you have to have washrooms, you have to keep them clean and you have to keep records that they were cleaned, as well. But all of this legislation actually existed at least as far back as 1990, this re-tabling of existing legislation. As well, it basically says you need porta-potties.

We’ve all talked about the silver tsunami, the need for more and more tradespeople. I am curious: When I hear the Minister of Labour talk about bringing Bay Street to main street—on Bay Street, I don’t see very many porta-potties. We’re basically telling people that we’re going to attract people to this field; we need tradespeople. We’re telling them we’re going to attract women and people of colour and men and young children, teens to this career because we’re offering them porta-potties that will be clean and that will be reported of cleaning.

My question, Speaker, to the minister is, are we really going to attract people by advertising porta-potties? And has he ever offered a job saying, “Come and apply at the Ministry of Labour; we’ve got porta-potties”?

Hon. David Piccini: That’s an unfortunate characterization. What we’re going to do to attract young men and women into the trades is bring back tech class, something this Premier is doing; bringing back hours in grade 11 and 12 to get into a trade, something this Premier is doing.

What we’re going to do is we’re going to break down barriers for women with properly fitting PPE, ensure proper cleaning schedules for bathrooms, work with the sector to bring in the trailers. I would encourage him to leave this place and come with me down to the 183 high-rise I was on, on day one on this job. All of them are leaving that party in droves to endorse this Premier because he’s getting more young men and women into the trades and because he’s laser-focused on removing the barriers.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Further questions?

Ms. Natalie Pierre: Thank you, Minister, for your remarks and for the work that you continue to do in your ministry for the workers in the province of Ontario.

My question is actually for the member from Ajax, and I wanted to ask you specifically about issues that women face in the workplace. Given the challenges that women face, such as barriers to entry in certain industries, under-representation in leadership roles and harassment in the workplace, can you explain what specific actions your ministry has taken in Working for Workers 5 to promote gender equality in the workplace?

Ms. Patrice Barnes: Thank you for that question. We’ve had so much amazing conversation with women in trades. I’ve had Rok, especially, a beautiful Black woman—she is a carpenter. She so loves her job in the trade that she’s done for many years, but we’ve had really good conversations about that.

Some of the things that are sort of snuffed at, such as the washrooms, about the menstrual products, about the opportunity to really highlight women in trade, the specific investments through SDF that are encouraging organizations that are mentoring young women into the trades, the make-a-dream organization that is fully focused on getting women and young ladies really thinking about the trades—they had an event where they had 2,000 young women that came to be on site, that were learning around trades, were doing interactive things, that were really taking away the stigma around trades and being able to do those hands-on things.

So our government has been very specific in talking about that in schools and really focused on the things that we can do to get women to recognize that they can achieve anything that they want to achieve.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): Next question?

MPP Jamie West: This bill has the removal-ish of sick notes, and I say “removal-ish” because you don’t have to provide sick notes, but your employer can ask you to provide proof. It also only applies to the three days of personal emergency leave.

We used to have 10 days of personal emergency leave, but the Conservative government in their first, I guess, Working for Workers bill reduced it to three. Dr. Nowak, the president of the Ontario Medical Association, has told this committee, when we were reviewing this bill, that the Ontario Medical Association sees about 11 days, on average, of people being sick.

I know the Conservative government is dramatically opposed to providing sick pay or providing any sort of pay to help workers get through sick days—especially low and precarious workers—but would the minister agree that we should be raising our personal emergency leave days back up to 10, considering the Ontario Medical Association says that 11 days on average is what they’re seeing?

Hon. David Piccini: Look, I appreciate the question. I think what we recognize is that taking a common-sense approach to remove paperwork for doctors, so that they can spend more time caring for patients, is the right move—but also recognizing that you have to have integrity in the system and some checks and balances, so that employers have an ability to ensure that there is accountability in that system.

I think being willing to have that discussion is a good thing, which we have and which our government has. Sitting down with doctors to tackle a barrier so that they can provide more direct care to patients is important. Removing barriers in credentialing pathways so that we can get more people in health care is important.

The Acting Speaker (Ms. Jennifer K. French): The time for questions and responses is finished.

Further debate?

MPP Jamie West: I’m looking at the time; we probably won’t get the whole hour in the next five minutes, but I will start off.

Interjection.

MPP Jamie West: I can talk fast, but not that fast.

This bill, Bill 190, is a compendium of six schedules. When we were doing second reading of the bill, I sort of went through every schedule, so for this one, I’m going to sort of hit the high notes on it.

Just as a review for everybody:

Schedule 1 basically talks about the high school apprenticeship program.

Schedule 2: I kind of call it the headline portion. It’s going to disclose that the job posting is for an existing vacancy; it’s going to respond to everyone who applied for the job applications and retain copies for all three years. It’s not that these are bad things, necessarily, but I don’t know if they’re the first thing that workers would say they need in the times of unaffordability that we’re facing right now. They won’t hurt, obviously, but they’re not front and centre, I don’t think.

Schedule 3 is about requirements for reasonable alternatives to documenting proof of qualifications. This, we heard at committee, was incredibly important. I think that we have to give credit where credit is due: It’s a good step forward. Nothing is spelled out in this, unfortunately, and I don’t know, really, if we could spell something out at this point, but I’m glad that the government is looking at this. I think we as New Democrats believe it’s important as well.

We really heard from people talking about how difficult it was to come over here, to Canada, as newcomers. If you’re fleeing a war-torn country and the university you went to has been bombed and the records are destroyed, not only is it difficult to get the records; they may not even exist, especially if they’re paper records. That really is a hurdle, and so we do need to provide a way for people to get into their profession that they had in their home country here, for two reasons:

(1) We need those people to work in those fields; and (2) it’s very demoralizing to pack up your family, to travel to a new country—maybe the language, the culture and the food are different—and become part of the fabric of the country that makes our country great, but then you are working in areas that are below your skill level.

It becomes frustrating. I’m meeting people who are dentists, who are taking dental hygienist jobs in order to compensate. We’ve all heard about the people who are doctors, and holding doctorates, who are driving Ubers or taxis. It’s not good for them and it’s not good for us. I can only imagine the mental health effects that it’s having on workers in this position, who know that they can work at a higher capacity and aren’t able to find those jobs because of qualifications. I am glad that we’re looking to a way to have a reasonable alternative to proof of qualifications.

There are great suggestions from the people who came to speak with us at committee about ways that we can do this. I’m looking forward to that, moving forward.

Schedule 4 kind of has three random items on it. One of them is just updating the health and safety regulations, industrial regulations. I referred to an office, but not necessarily an office, located in a private residence. I think that provides clarity for workers that that’s happening. And number 2 is updating

definitions of workplace harassment and workplace sexual harassment, including—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I apologize to the member for Sudbury for cutting him off, literally mid-sentence, but it is 10:15 and I am compelled to now ask for members’ statements.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

Members’ Statements

Elevate Plus

Mr. Tyler Allsopp: I rise today to tell you about a graduation that occurred a little bit over a week ago in my home riding of Bay of Quinte from a great program called Elevate Plus. This program, funded through the Skills Development Fund and facilitated by Loyalist College and Quinte economic development, helps job seekers who have faced obstacles in their lives, whether it be mental illness, drug addiction or contact with the justice system, to build their skills, increase their confidence and prepare themselves for a career in our booming manufacturing sector.

Over four weeks in class and four weeks on the job, these students develop into employees who are ready to work for any of our great manufacturers in the Bay of Quinte region.

I will say it was incredibly moving to hear their stories about the changes that they’ve made in their lives and their desire and commitment to be better people, better family members and better members of our community.

We are so thankful for this program, which graduated eight people in its 39th cohort to come through Elevate Plus. Over the years, that means hundreds of people have changed their lives, have gotten back to work and have made a difference across our community.

Thank you to Elevate Plus, all of the teachers and staff who make it possible, Loyalist College and Quinte economic development, as well as the Skills Development Fund, for this great program.

Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day

Ms. Peggy Sattler: Today is Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day, an annual opportunity to celebrate the commitment, skills and hard work of the people who care for Ontario’s kids.

As the MPP for London West, I’m especially grateful to the dedicated, caring professionals who work in child care centres and licensed home child care across our city. Their commitment allows London parents to go to work, put food on the table and keep our economy going, knowing their children will be safe, nurtured and engaged.

The theme for this year’s day is “Worth More!,” which highlights the urgency of ensuring child care workers and ECEs receive the respect and resources they deserve, so they can provide the care our children need and deliver the services that families rely on.

Speaker, London West families have been struggling under this government with the rising cost of living, and the promise of $10-a-day child care provided a glimmer of hope. But the Conservatives’ failure to develop a workforce strategy to retain and recruit ECEs and child care workers means $10-a-day is not even close to a reality for the almost 5,000 kids waiting for a space in London.

Will the Premier show his appreciation today for the child care workers and ECEs who fuel Ontario’s economy by giving them the decent work, good pay and fulfilling careers they deserve?

Right to Heal RedPath Programs

Mr. Dave Smith: This past Sunday, October 20, I was at a fundraising event at 100 Acre Brewing. There was a bandshell set up, and a number of local artists all joined together to raise money for one of our local charities. We had local artists Mike Kidd, Sarah Jayne Riley, Brad Renaud and Joslynn Burford there to entertain us and keep us engaged as we raised money for an organization called Right to Heal.

Right to Heal delivers an Indigenous land-based cognitive behavioural therapy approach to addictions treatment. It’s all based around the research of Peggy Shaughnessy. Peggy is just completing her PhD in addictions research right now at Trent University, and the RedPath Program that she delivers through Right to Heal is making a difference in my community in the fight against the opioid crisis.

The approach is a non-medical approach, where someone learns why they’re addicted so that they can get to the underlying issue, learn how they can take personal responsibility for their own well-being and find strategies that work for them to avoid the destructive behaviour that put them in the position they’re in. We’re seeing tremendous success with this program. With addictions, there is no silver bullet—not a single approach will work for everyone. But this approach is seeing tremendous results for many who have gone through her program.

Peggy’s program has changed the trajectory of the lives of so many people in our community.

Thank you, Peggy, for developing the program, thank you for introducing it to me and thank you for your patience as I work to find funding so that you can save the lives of so many people in our community.

Tenant protection

Ms. Chandra Pasma: This summer, while the Premier was busy telling people struggling with homelessness to get off their posteriors and get a job, my constituents in Aspen Towers were desperately trying to hold onto their housing. Their brand new landlord has been trying to evict hundreds of tenants, issuing eviction notices just three days after he took ownership of the building, telling people they had only five days over a long weekend to make a decision.

This government has abandoned my constituents and renters like them. They have refused to implement real rent control, which would take away the incentive from bad landlords to evict tenants just so they can jack up the rent. They have refused to levy stiffer penalties on landlords who ignore the rules, provide false information or unfairly evict tenants. They’ve refused to proactively enforce the rules, leaving it up to tenants to do it themselves, and then refused to fix the Landlord and Tenant Board so that these tenants can have swift justice.

The Aspen Towers tenants in Ottawa West–Nepean include families with children, people working two jobs just to pay for rent and seniors who were finally able to retire after a lifetime of work. None of them will be able to afford rent if they are turfed onto the Ottawa housing market. They will have to work three jobs. They will have to go back to work in their seventies. Some of them are warning that they will have to live in their cars.

Instead of blaming people who are struggling because of his government’s failures, the Premier should get off his posterior and make sure that everyone in this province can afford a place to call home.

Events in Scarborough–Agincourt

Mr. Aris Babikian: The summer break was very productive. I managed to attend over 220 meetings, announcements, community events, new business openings in addition to attending standing committee meetings. It was informative to meet and listen to the daily challenges and concerns of Scarborough–Agincourt residents, businesses and organizations.

I visited Sir Ernest MacMillan public school to distribute backpacks filled with school supplies to students in need. I made time to chat with the students and help them overcome some of the issues they face.

I also had the privilege of meeting Dr. Norman Bethune CI’s BearBella all-girls robotics team to help with their fundraising as they prepare to represent Canada in the FIRST Global Challenge in Athens, Greece.

Among the highlights of the summer recess were the Blackstone Foundation’s grand reopening of the Chester Le community library, which was established by a $199,700 grant from Ontario Trillium Foundation.

I also managed to organize two barbeques for our residents.

Another crucial event that I attended with the Minister of Health was the announcement of the allocation of $1,478,000 to the TAIBU Community Health Centre and $1,325,000 to Scarborough Centre for Healthy Communities to ensure our residents get access to primary care services.

The grand opening of Scarborough Health Network’s mental health centre in Scarborough with Premier Ford and Minister Jones was a historic first.

These are some of the events which kept me busy during our summer break.

British Home Child Day

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: I rise to share a story of significance, a

chapter of Canadian history that is often overlooked: the British home child that began 155 years ago. This child migration scheme was a government program that sent 125,000 poor and desolate children from ages six months to 18 years from the UK and Ireland to Canada as indentured labourers to work on farms and as domestic servants from 1869 to 1939. This program was borne out of a desire to alleviate poverty in Britain and to provide a solution for the children deemed unwanted and neglected.

Many home children faced harsh conditions, including abuse, forced labour and neglect. They worked on farms and in factories, and they helped build communities across this country.

Their resilience played a crucial role in shaping the agricultural, industrial and urban landscapes of Toronto, Canada, Ontario and beyond. They are remarkable heroes, and that’s why, on September 28 of each year, we celebrate and commemorate the British Home Child Day.

Today, many Canadians can trace their ancestry back to these children, who helped lay the foundation of our rich and diverse and growing nation. It’s estimated that 12% of the Canadian population, four million people, are British home children descendants, including Ontario Premiers and MPPs.

As we reflect on their experiences, we must consider how far we have come and how much further we need to go in safeguarding the welfare of children today. In modern Ontario, our province is failing as one child dies every three days in government care.

Today in the Legislature, we will be joined by descendants and families of the British Home Child program who have travelled from across Ontario to attend a reception which I’m co-hosting with the British Consulate General in Toronto. I invite all members to join us after question period to celebrate with them.

Operation White Heart installation

Ms. Patrice Barnes: Over the summer, I did over 240 events. One of my favourite ones was on October 17—actually, that’s not over the summer, but anyways, that’s another one.

In the great riding of Ajax, in Rotary Park, we unveiled an installation in partnership with Operation White Heart, through the advocacy of Michelle Cook, a constituent who lost her son Josh to suicide.

Operation White Heart began in New Brunswick and is an awareness project focused on promoting conversation around mental health and suicide while utilizing basic landscaping supplies such as mulch and white stone to create a white heart. This was started by Robert Lothian. This heart, crafted with care and intention, stands as a symbol of compassion, understanding and hope. It serves as an important reminder of a connection needed to open conversations about mental health and the unwavering support we must offer to each other. As we honour the memories of those who have left us too soon, let us also commit to re-creating a world where every person feels seen, heard and valued.

I want to give my thanks to Councillor Marilyn Crawford and the councillors from Ajax who worked to make this the first Operation White Heart sculpture in the province of Ontario.

I encourage members of the House to learn about this initiative and maybe get one in their riding. As Robert said at the unveiling, it will not solve the issue, but just maybe somebody will see one and think twice about taking their lives.

Riding of Scarborough–Guildwood

MPP Andrea Hazell: Today I stand before you to share the stories of the people I represent in Scarborough–Guildwood. Over the past 19 weeks, I had the privilege of meeting with my constituents, listening to their challenges and understanding the issues that affect their daily lives.

Vacation was not a priority for me. I was in the field every day, making a difference and giving them hope for a better tomorrow. Many families are facing food insecurity and are struggling to put food on the table. Food bank visits are on the rise, with one in seven people at the food banks in Scarborough. Job opportunities remain limited, and many of my constituents are finding it increasingly difficult to secure stable, well-paying jobs. Access to health care remains a significant concern, as over 19,000 of my constituents are without a family doctor.

Aside from that, I am very proud to say that I have participated in over 200 events throughout Scarborough and Scarborough–Guildwood, connecting with residents, community leaders and organizations dedicated to making a difference. Each event has reinforced my commitment to advocating for the Scarborough community.

We need a government that will provide solutions. They deserve a government that will stand up for the people of Ontario.

Community Leader Awards and Thanksgiving Dinner

Mr. Rudy Cuzzetto: Two weeks ago, we celebrated Thanksgiving, and my team and I had our annual Community Leaders Awards and Thanksgiving Dinner at the Oasis Convention Centre in Lakeview. We had a great turnout of over 300 people to celebrate the harvest and to recognize some very special community leaders from across Mississauga–Lakeshore.

That includes Barry Gilbert, an Indigenous elder and the founder of the Eagle Spirits of the Great Waters, who has done so much to promote Indigenous art, culture and a spirit of healing along our waterfront on Orange Shirt Day and throughout the year.

We honoured my friend Vishal Khanna, the founder of the Sai Dham Food Bank, the only food bank in Ontario that operates 365 days each year and helps seniors and others with special needs.

As we celebrate Small Business Week, we recognize a small business owner like Joe Leroux, the founder of Amadio’s Pizza, who has supported our local festivals, youth hockey teams, food banks and charities since 1990.

I want to thank David Zura from CityNews Toronto for joining us as well to help us tell some of these uplifting stories.

I’m thankful for Barry, Vishal and Joe for all of their Ontario spirit across our province, and I just want to thank them for being part of Mississauga–Lakeshore on this special evening.

Greater Napanee

Mr. Ric Bresee: I’m honoured today to rise representing the wonderful people of Hastings–Lennox and Addington. Speaker, as you know, I represent a very large riding consisting of many different and diverse communities. While I’d love to talk about them all today, I’m going to focus on one area, the town of Greater Napanee.

Greater Napanee has several new and expanding industries announced with the support and leadership of this government. We’ve seen a major expansion of the Goodyear tire plant, with hundreds of new high-paying jobs; a new battery storage facility that will help to enhance and stabilize the power grid for everyone; and the implementation of a new health home program that will lead to every single resident there having access to primary care.

The high note, however, was Greater Napanee receiving almost $35 million to build a new waste water facility through this government’s Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund that will allow for the development of over 3,000 new homes in Greater Napanee. The mayor of Greater Napanee, Terry Richardson, put it best when he said, “This is game-changing,” and I left out the expletive on that.

This is the type of work that this government, under the leadership of the Premier, has been doing all across this province during the summer session. While the opposition may talk about how long the break was, for this government, there is no break in our work to keep building Ontario. Whether here at Queen’s Park or working in the ridings all across the province, we are and will continue to get it done for the people of Ontario.

Correction of record

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’m going to recognize the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming on a point of order.

Hon. Stan Cho: On a point of order, I just want to correct my record from my answer yesterday to the member from Bay of Quinte. I said the fine Minister of Sport had won a Grey Cup championship—I was wrong; he has won four championships.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Good that we got that straightened out.

Introduction of Visitors

Mr. Vincent Ke: I’d like to introduce my friends who are sitting in the public gallery: Mr. Yang Jianying, who is a well-known urban strategist for Dun Huang International Tourism Solutions; his wife, Liu Qifang; and his son, Yang Chaopeng. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Hon. Nolan Quinn: With today being the British home child reception, I’d just like to welcome a few guests who have travelled here today: Kathleen Kirkman, Lisa Gleva, Lori Oschefski, Lyma McIntosh, Malcolm Farrow and Marilee Gosselin, as well as Carol Godard and Eleanor McGrath from my riding.

Hon. Stephen Crawford: I’d like to welcome, from my riding of Oakville, Shawn Fang, and with him are a number of youth volunteers from the Oak Medical Education Foundation, along with his daughter and his parents, Guang Fang and Jinqing Xu, who are here celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Jessica Bell: I’d like to introduce Marissa Jefkins, Martha McGrath, Michael Barry, Nancy MacDonald, Nancy Smyth, Patricia Bielert and Paul Stewart, who will be attending the British home child reception at lunch today.

Ms. Mary-Margaret McMahon: Good morning, everyone. I have a few people to introduce today. First of all, my powerful page is page captain today: Lincoln Knibbs from beautiful Beaches–East York. And his proud parents are in the chamber: “Jazzy” Julia Peters and “Gregarious” Garnet Knibbs. Welcome to the House.

I also have to introduce Rita, Katherine, Karen, Craig and Rob Franklin, who are direct descendants of the British home child program and Dr. Barnardo’s children, Edward Charles Franklin who came here at nine years of age in 1909, and his sister, Florence Salt, who came here in 1907 at 14 years of age. Welcome to your House. We’ll see you at the reception today.

Mr. Andrew Dowie: I wish to give a warm, warm welcome to the grade 10 students from St. Joseph’s high school in my great riding of Windsor–Tecumseh, with teachers Mr. Bill Croft, Mr. Charlie Sylvestre, Ms. Dana Stevens. Welcome to Queen’s Park. Looking forward to meeting you after all the commotion that we’re going to go through in the next hour and change.

MPP Jill Andrew: Good morning, Speaker. I would like to welcome some incredible folks from Toronto who are here for the British home child reception today: Ada Sloan, Adrienne Patterson, Aldo Palma, Ali Thompson, Allyson Reid, Bill Hopton, Bob Franklin. Welcome to your House.

Ms. Chandra Pasma: I would like to join my colleagues in welcoming the British home child descendants and advocates, including Danielle Walker, Deborah Gallant, Kaitlin Gallant, Denis Gosselin, Denis Piquette, Derakhshan Qurban-Ali, Edward Hewitt and Edward Rice. Welcome. We look forward to seeing you at the reception afterwards.

Mrs. Jennifer (Jennie) Stevens: As well as my colleagues, I’d like to welcome some individuals here today from the British home children’s centre. They would be Hugo Straney, John Jefkins, John Vanthof, Joyce Kalsen, Judi Helle, Karen Franklin, Kate Barlett and Katherine Franklin. Welcome to your House. I’m looking forward to seeing you later on at your reception.

Hon. Peter Bethlenfalvy: They’re not here yet; they’re going through security, but I want to give a big shout-out to the students from Uxbridge Secondary School, one that I go to very often. Of course, today, they are from the great riding of Uxbridge-Pickering. I want to say to them, welcome to the House, and go, Tigers!

Mr. Sol Mamakwa: Meegwetch, Speaker.

Remarks in Anishininiimowin.

I’d like to welcome some guests to Queen’s Park. Yesterday, my team met with Raven Lacerte, the founder of the Moose Hide Campaign. The Moose Hide Campaign is a First Nations-led grassroots movement to end violence towards women and children. Also on her team are Grace Park-Wawia and Joshua Matthewman. Meegwetch for coming to Queen’s Park.

Ms. Stephanie Bowman: I’d like to welcome members of the Canadian Credit Union Association, who gave us a wonderful breakfast this morning. I’ve already met with them. One of my grandfathers was the founder of a credit union near Stratford, and so I’m very proud to have met with him today.

I also want to make note of a school visit yesterday. Maurice Cody public school was here. They weren’t in the gallery at the time, but over 75 grade 5 kids from Maurice Cody visited yesterday. Welcome to the House.

MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam: I’d like to add my voice in welcome to many people who are travelling from across Ontario for the British home child reception happening right after question period. I’d like to welcome Rick Hayward; Rita Franklin; Rob Franklin; Sandie De Freitas; Scott Ladoucier; Sheila Eaton; Suzanne Park; Warren Vandal; William C.

Smith; Walter McIntosh; Nancy Smyth, the Canadian ambassador to Ireland; Fouzia Younis, the British consul general in Toronto; Janice McGann, the Irish consul general; Eleanor McGrath; Finbarr McCarthy; Lori Oschefski, president of the Home Children Canada charity; as well as Sir George Beardshaw, who is a 101-year-old World War II veteran and the last home child of Canada.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll ask if the House agrees to continue with the introduction of visitors. Agreed? Okay.

M. Stéphane Sarrazin: Aujourd’hui, j’ai le plaisir d’accueillir ici à Queen’s Park les élèves de 10 e année de l’École secondaire catholique Embrun, qui est une école de ma circonscription.

Je voulais juste dire que la visite est possible grâce à une belle initiative du programme des voyageurs pour la démocratie, qui est un programme du ministère de l’Éducation. Donc, plus que jamais, on a des écoles de notre région qui viennent ici. On sait qu’on demeure très loin, donc c’est vraiment le fun de voir ça, pour ces enfants-là de pouvoir apprendre ce que notre gouvernement fait et la démocratie.

Bienvenue. Ils seront ici dans quelques instants. Je viens de prendre une photo avec eux—un gros groupe; 78 élèves.

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: I would like to welcome some more guests who are at Queen’s Park today for the British home child reception: Elizabeth Ladoucier, Emma Carter, Eric Morse, George Beardshaw and Georgina Warner. Welcome.

Hon. David Piccini: I would like to welcome to Queen’s Park today very dear friends and the person who’s been with me since day one in this Legislature and runs everything, including me, sometimes, in the constituency office: Bonnie and James. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Mr. Chris Glover: I’d like to welcome to the House people who are going to be joining the British home child reception at noon: Carol Goddard, Catherine Strongman, Catherine Mulroney, Cathy O’Connell, Con O’Connell, Craig Franklin and Cynthia Teeter. Welcome to your House.

Death of member’s husband

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The government House leader has informed me he has a point of order he’d like to raise.

Mr. Steve Clark: Point of order, Mr. Speaker: On behalf of Premier Ford and the government, I just want to express, through you, to the member for Scarborough Southwest, our deepest sympathies on the loss of her husband. Our thoughts and our prayers are with you and your family, and it’s great to see you back. My condolences.

Question Period

Government accountability

Ms. Marit Stiles: This question is for the Premier. Six months ago, the Ontario Science Centre was a world-class institution. It was bustling with school field trips, with science experiments and creative installations, but today, under this government, it’s been boarded up. It’s been relocated in scraps to a strip mall in Etobicoke. Just a year ago, Ontario Place was an accessible public park. It was being enjoyed by millions of visitors, but today, it’s a pile of rubble locked away behind fences.

I’ve been all over this province, and no one is telling us this is what they need. So my question to the Premier is, when will he stop the schemes and the scandals and get to work building the homes, hiring the doctors and fixing our schools?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply for government, the Minister of Infrastructure.

Hon. Kinga Surma: To the Leader of the Opposition, it’s nice to see you disrespect the Integrity Commissioner once again in this House.

But, Mr. Speaker, the science centre board has made a decision in order to open exhibits across the province, and two of the locations are Harbourfront Centre and Sherway Gardens. Now, we are making a big effort—the province of Ontario, in collaboration with the science centre—to bring science centre learning to the people of Ontario. This was a decision by the science centre, and we encourage families to go visit the exhibits as they do, and prepare for their Christmas shopping and the holiday season.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, if the minister can’t answer on her own file because she’s under investigation, maybe she could find another minister to help her answer these questions.

It’s been six long years of this government and Ontarians are without a doubt worse off. They are stuck trying to find a doctor. They are stuck looking for an affordable place to live. They are stuck with the bill for this Premier’s costly schemes and scandals.

The Ontario Place scheme alone could cost taxpayers billions, all so that the insiders at Therme can make huge profits off of prime waterfront land.

So my question to the Premier, again, is: How can this Premier or anyone else on that side possibly justify this?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

To respond, the Minister of Infrastructure.

Hon. Kinga Surma: Mr. Speaker, in case I don’t have my facts correct—it was the NDP and the leader of the official opposition that filed a complaint with the Integrity Commissioner. The Integrity Commissioner is doing his job. I assume that all of us who sit in the House respect the Integrity Commissioner, the institution, his office and staff. So I have to ask the question: Why do you insist on disrespecting the Integrity Commissioner and the important work that he has to do?

While you do that, the members on this side of the House will focus on building Ontario. In fact, let’s just list a few accomplishments: Grandview Children’s Centre, Mount Sinai, Michael Garron Hospital, West Park Healthcare Centre and the Ontario Court of Justice—all projects that reached substantial completion under this government’s leadership.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

The final supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: I’ll say it again, Speaker: Boy, do I wish we didn’t have to spend all our time submitting complaints to the Integrity Commissioner about this government. But, sadly, that is the state of the province of Ontario right now.

Yesterday, the Premier stood here and said Ontario Place was a field of weeds. The last time he said that, do you know what he was talking about, Speaker? He was talking about the greenbelt. How’d that work out for you? The Premier said that, we’ll recall, to justify selling off the greenbelt for $8 billion in windfall profits to their insider friends, until we forced him to back down.

When is this government going to learn? What is it going to take for them to reverse their latest scheme to sell off Ontario Place, or is it going to take another RCMP investigation?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

The Minister of Infrastructure.

Hon. Kinga Surma: Please, let the leader of the official opposition continue to disrespect the Integrity Commissioner in this House. I am sure he is watching.

But, Mr. Speaker, let me talk about the things that keep the Ministry of Infrastructure busy—that keep all of us busy, in fact. Let me talk about the projects that we are building in the province of Ontario: the 1Door4Care children’s hospital in Ottawa; the Eglinton Crosstown West extension tunnelling work is completed; the Scarborough subway extension; Cambridge Memorial Hospital; the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health redevelopment project; GO expansion; Highway 3; Hamilton Health Sciences West Lincoln; Niagara Health’s new South Niagara Hospital project; the Ontario Line; QEW/Credit River.

Mr. Speaker, we’re busy building this province; the NDP is just filing complaints.

Government’s record

Ms. Marit Stiles: Speaker, I’m going to go back to the Premier. Let’s talk about another unpopular scheme of this government: the Premier’s fantasy tunnel under the 401. Recent polling is now showing that about two thirds of the government’s own voters say they strongly oppose this tunnel plan. It’s even less popular, not surprisingly, with the rest of Ontarians. People in rural Ontario don’t want to hear their government is spending $100 billion in taxpayer dollars on another wacky scheme from this Premier, right? They deserve, instead, a government that’s going to make sure they have access to their local emergency room, say, when they need it.

So my question to the Premier is, why do this government’s priorities never seem to match the reality of this province?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): To reply, the Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Mr. Speaker, we know gridlock is at an all-time high, and that’s because the previous Liberal government—obviously, the NDP—have refused to build in this province. For 15 years, they had a chance to do something. They did absolutely nothing.

We look at all solutions to these problems, whether it’s public transportation or whether it’s a tunnel. We know the 401 is one of the most congested areas in our province. We need to improve productivity. We need to get people moving and, Mr. Speaker, we will look at every option possible.

We’re building the Ontario Line, moving 400,000 people every single day. That party opposed it. We’re building Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, and we will continue to do a feasibility study on the tunnel because we know we need to look at the next 10, 20, 50 years of this province, not go back to the previous Liberal government that did absolutely nothing to build, and I can say the NDP would be no different.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question?

Ms. Marit Stiles: Well, Speaker, I don’t think Ontarians are going to buy that from a Minister of Transportation who can’t even give us an opening date for the Eglinton LRT. My gosh—a basic, basic responsibility of this minister.

My question, back to the Premier: This is a government that is six years in, and congestion is, yes, worse than it has ever been. The Premier could get people moving today by allowing trucks to drive toll-free on the 407 and free up the 401. When we put that to the government as a proposal, what did they do, Speaker? They said no. They said no to the people of this province. So why is the Premier making commuters wait for some fantasy tunnel that will never get built instead of just taking back the 407?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

The Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Mr. Speaker, that question from the NDP sums up everything you need to know about them and the previous Liberal government. They don’t think anything can be built. They think everything is a fantasy.

In fact, that’s what they said when we proposed the Ontario Line. They said, “That could never get built. You could never get shovels in the ground.” Guess what? The shovels are in the ground, and it will move 400,000 people every single day.

That is what they said to the people of Scarborough. For 10, 15 years, they denied them the subway. They denied them transit. What did this Premier do? We got shovels in the ground on the Scarborough subway extension.

To them, it’s always a fantasy. To our government, it’s about building. It’s about building for the future. It’s about building, putting shovels in the ground on the 413, the Bradford Bypass. This is about the future generations of this province. This isn’t about the next four years; it’s about thinking ahead. The next 10, 20, 50 years—what will this province need? If it was up to the NDP and Liberals, nothing would ever get built in this province.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The final supplementary.

Ms. Marit Stiles: I do seem to remember these are the same folks who poured cement down a subway line, but anyways.

Listen, while Ontarians are stuck waiting to find a home, a doctor, support for their kids in schools, this government is stuck in scandals and schemes that are moving us absolutely nowhere: a $1-billion spa deal, an $8-billion greenbelt giveaway, a $100-billion fantasy tunnel.

Instead of homes, Ontarians get headaches. Instead of doctors, they get delays. And instead of schools, they get spas. So my question to the Premier is, when will this government stop catering to insiders, put people first and finally deliver the basics for Ontario?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

Minister of Transportation.

Hon. Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria: Mr. Speaker, we are delivering every single day for the people of this province. Whether it’s a $70-billion plan to build public transit to move people faster, to make people more productive, to get people within walking distance of public transit, guess what? The NDP oppose that every step of the way.

We have a piece of legislation that is on the floor that we asked the NDP and Liberals to support, that would help us accelerate the construction of highway builds across this province, including the Bradford Bypass, including Highway 413 and the Garden City Skyway bridge, Mr. Speaker. But guess what? I know what the members opposite will do. They’re going to vote against it again, because they don’t believe in building this province. They don’t believe in getting people to work and back to their families instead of spending time in gridlock.

This government has a plan to build, and we will continue to make sure we get shovels in the ground, regardless of what the opposition do to try and stop us.

Child care

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: My question is to the Minister of Education. This summer, the Conservative government cancelled already approved plans to build 48 new school-based child care centres that would have created spaces for over 3,000 kids in the GTA. These were ready-to-go projects that were held up because of a lack of provincial funding, despite promises to fund them. Parents are desperate to get their kids into $10-a-day child care programs. When the space isn’t there, what are they supposed to do, especially moms? Not go to work? Not pay the bills? All families deserve accessible and affordable child care.

Why are Conservatives withholding funds for much-needed affordable child care spaces?

Hon. Jill Dunlop: I think the member knows that these seats have actually been reallocated because the board was sitting on this surplus money. We’re working collaboratively with the federal government to get a better deal for Ontario families, because we know that child care has increased to some of the highest costs in Canada under the former Ontario Liberal government.

To be clear, from day one, we were skeptical about the deal, which is why we were the only province in Canada to secure a midway review to ensure the sustainability and longevity of this program. Having met with Minister Sudds in Ottawa, I thought that we both agreed that we wanted affordable and flexible child care for Ontario families. However, Minister Sudds’s response to my letter has made it clear to me that the federal Liberals care more about pushing their ideology than making child care affordable for families in this province.

I am calling on the NDP and the Liberals across the aisle to join us to support this program to ensure that we can have affordable and flexible child care for families in this province.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question?

Ms. Bhutila Karpoche: Speaker, the minister knows very well that funds are being withheld for child care spaces, and the Conservatives are well behind and will fail to meet their own targets. Today is Child Care Worker and Early Childhood Educator Appreciation Day, and one of the things that is missing in the new funding formula and what child care workers have been asking for, for years, is a wage grid. Other provinces have successfully implemented a wage grid. Do Ontario’s child care workers and early childhood educators not deserve the same?

Hon. Jill Dunlop: I want to thank the early childhood educators for the loving environment they do for our young folks and for those early learners, but, Mr. Speaker, that is why retention and recruitment of a high-quality child care, early-years workforce is critical to the sustainability and implementation of the CWELCC system and will achieve the system growth and ensure increased access to high-quality licensed child care in Ontario.

I have had the opportunity to visit child care centres across this province this summer and have met with early childhood educators and have heard the concerns about retention and recruitment. That’s why we have made these changes, and we will ensure that we are providing—

Interjection.

Hon. Jill Dunlop: That’s what we are doing. We are providing the supports for those families.

For 2024, the wage floor increased from the planned $20 per hour to $23.86 per hour for eligible RECEs, program staff; from the planned $22 per hour to $24.86 per hour for the registered ECEs’ supervisors and RECE home child care visitors.

Transportation infrastructure

Mr. Deepak Anand: My question is to the Minister of Transportation. Traffic congestion cost over $11 billion in productivity losses every year. With a growing population and increasing traffic congestion, it is clear we need to enhance our transportation infrastructure and we need to do it now. We all know the frustration of sitting in traffic, watching our time slip away due to ongoing road congestion delays when it comes to completing vital highway projects—time we can spend with family, friends and loved ones.

Thanks to the minister, our government has introduced the Building Highways Faster Act to streamline the approval process and reduce delays. With major projects still facing years of planning and approval, it is important for the people of Ontario to see the real progress. These are important goals. We need to understand how this will actually play out on the ground.

To the Minister of Transportation: Can you elaborate how this proposed legislation will cut down the time it takes to build highways?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Transportation and member for Hastings–Lennox and Addington.

Mr. Ric Bresee: My thanks to my friend the member from Mississauga–Malton for the question. The Building Highways Faster Act is a key initiative that reinforces our government’s commitment to get Ontario moving. As our population has grown, so have the pressures on our highways, but this legislation will allow us to cut through the delays by streamlining the approval processes and eliminating the red tape so that we can deliver key projects even more efficiently.

It’s about getting it done: building the highways we need, reducing the congestion, improving road safety and driving economic growth by ensuring that the movement of people and goods across this province continues to flow.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question?

Mr. Deepak Anand: Thank you for that wonderful answer. The need for faster and more efficient highway construction has never been more pressing for the residents of Mississauga–Malton and our province.

Our roads face increasing demands due to population growth and economic prosperity. Urgent action is needed, and needed now, as Ontario continues to be the economic powerhouse of Canada. By streamlining approval process and reducing hurdles, the government claims to be prioritizing the timely delivery of critical infrastructure projects.

With that in mind, Speaker, can the parliamentary assistant please provide specific examples of how the Building Highways Faster Act will expedite the construction of highways and benefit Ontarians going forward?

Mr. Ric Bresee: Once again, thank you to my friend from Mississauga–Malton. Speaker, the Building Highways Faster Act will have a direct and positive impact on the daily lives of Ontarians. By reducing the time it takes to plan and build our highways, we’re making sure that commuters will spend less time stuck in traffic and more time at home with families and loved ones. Improved highway infrastructure means faster, safer travel for everyone, whether it’s getting to work, to school or just to enjoy the beautiful places all across Ontario that we have to offer.

Speaker, by enhancing the efficiency of our transportation system, we’re also supporting local businesses, allowing goods and services to move more quickly and reliably. This government is about delivering results for Ontarians: faster commutes, safer roads and a more connected province.

Hospital parking fees

MPP Jill Andrew: To the Premier: Across Ontario, people are paying enormous parking fees at hospitals. In the GTA alone, a monthly parking pass is about $400. That’s a lot of money, especially for our overworked and underpaid health care workers.

Earlier this week, I tabled a motion calling on this government to eliminate hospital parking fees for health care workers, hospital staff, patients and their families, and adequately fund our public hospitals. Patients should be able to bank on this government to properly fund our public hospitals and not revenue from a parking spot for the hospital care and services they need.

My question is to the Premier. Will this government provide necessary funding to eliminate hospital parking fees today so health care workers, patients and families can have one less financial burden at the hospital tomorrow?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The parliamentary assistant and member for Essex.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: The hospital parking directive is a directive that exists in the province of Ontario, and the purpose of the Ontario hospital parking directive is to keep the financial costs down on parking fees for patients and visitors at hospitals. The directive was created to reduce the barriers to accessing health care.

Mr. Speaker, under the Ontario hospital parking directive, there is a cap placed on any increases for parking fees in parking spaces associated with hospitals.

In addition to that, there are also special rates created for a 10-day pass or a 30-day pass. This is all in keeping with our policy to help keep the financial burden of parking down for patients and for people visiting patients at hospitals in Ontario.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The supplementary question?

MPP Jill Andrew: I wonder if the Premier or any MPPs pay for parking here at Queen’s Park.

Anyhow, back to the Premier: CTV News recently reported on a Toronto woman who paid nearly $2,000 in parking fees to visit her mother. Speaker, when you’re sick or when you’ve got a loved one who is sick in the hospital, parking costs should never be a barrier. When you’re getting chemo, managing chronic health conditions or just trying to keep up with all of your medical appointments—some of us know that really well—parking costs should never, ever, be a barrier.

As the Premier pins the price tag of his foreign luxury spa on Ontarians, many Ontarians cannot afford to visit their loved ones in hospital, literally. So I’ll ask the Premier again: Premier, will you choose people over your profit schemes, properly fund our public hospitals and eliminate hospital parking fees today as a concrete solution to actually help Ontarians get by?

Interjections.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Members will please take their seats.

The member for Essex.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: The province of Ontario has an Ontario hospital parking directive, and under this directive, the goal is to help alleviate part of the financial burden on patients and their families who are visiting them at the hospital. This is a policy of the province of Ontario.

Under this directive, Mr. Speaker, not only is there a hard cap on any parking increases, but in addition to that, there are special rates established for a 10-day parking pass and a 30-day parking pass. This is in keeping with the policy established in the province of Ontario. There are also special discounts that are offered under the hospital parking directive.

Mr. Speaker, the hospital parking directive exists to help people in the province of Ontario and alleviate the financial burden of parking, because we want everybody in the province of Ontario to get the health care they need at the hospitals that are available in the province.

Skilled trades

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: My question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. Ontario is at a critical juncture and who is going to build our infrastructure in my great riding of Newmarket–Aurora? We have a major pipeline that’s going to be built down Leslie and it’s going to add to our waste water capacity. I have a brand new apartment building going up on Yonge Street that’s going to provide almost 400 new homes.

Speaker, it is critical that we have enough skilled workers to meet the growing housing and infrastructure demands as we build Ontario. Without enough people in the skilled trades, we know that vital projects like hospitals, schools, homes and pipelines won’t be built, and we’re going to experience delays. That’s why our government must do everything we can do to provide Ontarians with the opportunities to launch into these well-paying and lifelong careers.

Speaker, can the minister please outline what steps our government has taken to ensure we have the workforce necessary to build a strong future for Ontario?

Hon. David Piccini: Thank you to that great member for that question—and an exciting waste water project to expand housing in her community.

We’ve got students here today and this government is taking some meaningful steps to support them on their career paths. We’re expanding tech classes in high school. In our latest Working for Workers bills that we spoke to this morning, we’re expanding the focus of apprenticeship in the skilled trades so that in grade 11 and 12 you can get hours that count towards your level 1 C of Q.

This Minister of Education is smashing down barriers and bringing back common-sense changes like financial literacy to actually ensure that these youth aren’t living off of government handouts and government programs and actually have the skills to stand on their own two feet and to succeed in today’s ever-changing economy.

We need more youth in the trades. In my supplementary, I’m going to expand on even more steps we’re taking to get our next generation into the skilled trades to build the homes, hospitals, highways and schools this government is building.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question?

M me Dawn Gallagher Murphy: Ontario’s economy depends on a strong, skilled workforce, and it is no secret that we are facing a shortage of skilled tradespeople. In fact, estimates suggest that, by 2025, one in five jobs in Ontario will be in the skilled trades.

At the same time, we know our experienced tradespeople—those who have built and shaped Ontario’s infrastructure—are nearing retirement. These are the workers who mentor the next generation and keep our economy moving. If we don’t act now, we risk not only losing their talent but also the opportunity to transfer the critical knowledge to younger workers.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is ensuring that we can attract new tradespeople while retaining our experienced workers to ensure that Ontario remains a leader in the skilled trades?

Hon. David Piccini: It’s a fundamental outlet that we just want to build Ontario, but we recognize two challenges: getting a generation to actually build it, but also the retiring golden generation.

Do you know how we’re not going to do it? By taxing the trades, as the previous Liberal government did so well: by taxing them with increasing fees, increasing exam fees. We’re lowering all of that, Speaker, or outright removing fees.

In fact, we’re doing common-sense changes to get more women into the trades, like properly fitting PPE, ensuring we have programs that protect women, ensuring we’re making investments in programs like the Skills Development Fund that have led to a 30% increase in women registration into the trades.

We’re building a province. The previous Liberal government, we know it because they said it: They wanted a service economy. They turned their backs on manufacturing workers. They drove jobs out at Kraft, at plants in my riding. We’re building a province, and we’re making sure we have the workforce designed to build the things that our great country needs so that we’re not dependent—

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Thank you.

The next question.

Home care

Mr. Wayne Gates: My question is to the Premier. Recently, we learned about medical supply shortages affecting home care patients in the province of Ontario. The shortage is so severe that appointments are being cancelled and some patients are being sent to urgent care centres—that’s if they’re open—and could end up in emergency departments. It’s so bad that cancer patients have to buy their own medical supplies from Amazon.

The province restructured home care last year, and then chose—chose—to take a five-month summer break while this crisis developed. Speaker, what is this government going to do to ensure this issue is fixed for home care patients immediately?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): The member for Essex and parliamentary assistant.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely unacceptable that patients do not get their medical supplies on time or as ordered. Patients must receive their medical supplies on time and as ordered. We expect everybody who needs home delivery of these supplies in the province of Ontario to receive their supplies, and we also expect that the families counting on those supplies will receive those supplies.

That is why the minister has already communicated with the chair and CAO of Ontario Health atHome and has already directed and authorized that the CAO take all means necessary, whatever means necessary, to ensure that the supplies are delivered on time and as ordered.

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Supplementary question?

Mr. Wayne Gates: Just to let you know, sir, it was your government that signed the contract. You’re responsible for what’s going on in the province of Ontario right now.

My question is back to the Premier. I heard directly from front-line staff about how this supply shortage has affected them. There have been serious delays in delivery. We have independent medical supply businesses today that have been doing this work for years without problems or complaints. Nurses are frustrated and are being forced to figure out how to divide what supplies they have left. Patients are left without the services they need.

Speaker, to this government: Why was this supply contract taken from independent businesses who were doing their jobs with no complaints, who have been doing it for years, and given to Bayshore, one of your big donors?

The Speaker (Hon. Ted Arnott): Again, I’ll remind the members to make their comments through the Chair.

The member for Essex.

Mr. Anthony Leardi: Mr. Speaker, I want to make this absolutely clear: Our government expects that every person in Ontario who requires delivery of medical supplies at home shall get those medical supplies at home and on time. That is why the minister has already communicated with the CAO, to make sure that those supplies get delivered on time.

This is a logistics issue. There is no lack of supply. This is a logistics issue, and the minister has already directed that these supplies be delivered on time, in accordance with the orders that were made. Any person in the province of Ontario who is out of pocket as a result of having to seek an alternative source may apply for reimbursement, and, in fact, those actions have already been taken. The phone number to call is 1-866-377-7567.

Health care

Mrs. Karen McCrimmon: There are many people who struggle with math, and this Conservative government, the Premier and his Minister of Health are no exceptions, but the math is easy and it’s frightening: Both the Ontario College of Family Physicians and the Ontario Medical Association agree that 2.5 million Ontarians do not have a family doctor. These organizations both say this number is set to increase to 4.4 million people by 2026; 11,000 people have died waiting for surgeries and d