Point of order.

Thank you, Speaker. I’m a little surprised that the member opposite doesn’t understand the connection between school violence and children’s capacity to learn reading, writing and literacy in our schools and what this might have to do with school boards. I am surprised, but—

After traumatic episodes of violence and lockdowns, students are just supposed to go back to the classroom, back to learning without any mental health support. Violence is on the rise in school, and the majority of principals and vice-principals within our school boards attribute this to a lack of staffing, support and resources.

The TDSB has a staffing crisis, and students, teachers, parents, and education workers are feeling the pinch. But because of this government’s unwillingness to reimburse them for the $70 million that they had to pay to protect kids during the pandemic, they will be forced to cut even more staff, including child and youth workers and safety monitors. This is only going to make matters worse for our kids.

Don’t our kids deserve to feel safe at school? Don’t they deserve mental health supports in school?

This violence is not just limited to the TDSB. Violent incidents are happening at crisis levels across the province.

In London-area schools, reports by the ETFO Thames Valley District School Board show that there are an average of 636 violent incidents a month. This doesn’t even account for the majority of violent incidents that go unreported. In some cases, kids are even being sent to the hospital with severe injuries.

These are not just incidents occurring among students. Teachers and education workers are met with violence daily.

The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario is looking into violence against teachers and in schools to see if it will help this government understand the gravity of the situation.

Karen Brown, ETFO’s president, said, “Many school spaces are not safe, especially for those working on the front lines with students whose needs are not being met. We hope the data collected will finally convince this government to take action to address the unacceptable and troubling rise of violence in schools.”

I heard the same thing from Ottawa OECTA teachers last week. The number of violent incidents are rising, but because there’s pressure on teachers not to even report violence, what we know is just a drop in the bucket.

Teachers and education workers have been calling on this government to hire more mental health support staff and provide anti-violence training for the teachers and staff already working in our schools. They’ve been asking this government to work with them. The solutions are there, but instead, the government provides us with legislation that does nothing to address this. Our kids cannot succeed in math and literacy if they do not feel safe in our schools.

In my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean, I’ve heard from several parents and teachers about how their kids don’t feel safe at Pinecrest Public School. The parents who have reached out did not feel comfortable sharing their names, but in speaking with them, it’s clear that these are not isolated incidents. Once again, this is rooted in the lack of mental health supports available to our kids. Pinecrest is a K-to-8 school and is just one of many public schools in Ottawa that has had to cancel classes as a result of being short-staffed. One of my constituents has a six-year-old grandson at Pinecrest. In two months, her grandson’s homeroom has had three different supply staff, resulting in no consistency and a continuous lack of support for him and his classmates. In February, the students’ parents received an email from their principal informing them that, because of absenteeism, their classes would be cancelled for at least two days. Imagine being in this situation, trying to scramble to see whether you can find child care for your kids or whether you may have to bring them to work with you the following day. This woman was lucky that she was in a position where she could look after her grandson for a few days while his classes were cancelled.

After continued disruption from the pandemic, this government’s underfunding is resulting in our kids being out of the classroom once again.

Our kids are in crowded classrooms, not getting the supports they need, with teacher and education worker shortages. They’re in a mental health crisis, but schools don’t have the resources to address it, and they’re not feeling safe at schools because of rising violence due to the mental health crisis and the shortage of workers. And what does the minister think is the appropriate response to this situation? A fire sale of school properties. Instead of investments in mental health supports and smaller class sizes, Bill 98 is giving the minister the power to compel school boards to sell school buildings and land to any individual the minister designates, at any price the minister designates. This is the same government whose cozy relationship with developers always somehow seems to cost the taxpayer money while resulting in sweetheart deals for developers—

Thank you, Speaker.

Surely, if the sole desire here was to make sure that every child can attend school in their local community regardless of what board they’re in, the regulations on selling or transferring schools could just be limited to school boards.

What we actually need more than the sell-off of publicly held land to private, for-profit corporations is investments to address the repair backlog so that our children can learn in a safe environment. The school repair backlog is currently well over $16 billion; we don’t know by how much because the government stopped publicly reporting on this figure. But we know that committing only $1.4 billion a year to building new schools and repairing existing schools means that the backlog is going to continue to grow instead of shrink.

Our kids are trying to learn in schools that are not in good repair, including schools that are not fully air-conditioned. When the temperatures hit 30 degrees in Ottawa last week, one of the first things I thought of was the poor teachers and students on the second floor of my children’s un-air-conditioned school. Usually it’s not until late May or early June that the temperatures get that high. I’ve sent my kids to school in the past thinking, “Well, they’re not going to learn anything today. They’re going to be lucky to survive.” Teachers have had to employ creative strategies, including bringing Popsicles to school that they’ve paid for out of their own pockets, and cycling kids through the gym and the learning commons, which have air conditioning. These are our children’s learning conditions.

The government has said over and over again that this legislation is based on what they have been hearing from parents, but I don’t buy it. I have had countless emails come through my inbox since even just the start of this year from parents voicing their concerns with the direction that public education is going. When boards were raising issues about reimbursing COVID relief funds, the emails were pouring in. When the budget was tabled with no real inflationary increases for education included, the emails were pouring in. Since Sunday, the emails have been pouring in again.

Parents who are scared about what this legislation will mean, educators concerned with the Grants for Student Needs numbers all want to know who exactly has been consulted in the creation of this bill—who are the stakeholders that were involved? We know that it wasn’t any of the teachers and education unions, because they were very clear that they were caught completely off guard by this legislation. That’s incredibly insulting when the ministry is in bargaining with these teachers. That’s not how you build a respectful relationship.

Cara Kane, a parent in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean, sent me an email yesterday with her concerns about this bill and whose interests it represents. She said, “Firstly, it is quite bothersome to state that this is in response to what parents want ... how does he know what we want? What is he basing this off of? There has been no public consultation whatsoever with parents on this proposed bill. I want my child to go through this world as a kind person, who respects equity and diversity, who advocates for the community and stands up to bigotry, who explores her passions in a supportive environment, whatever they may be—whether it’s math and science, or art and literature, or anything in between. I fear this bill is woefully out of touch with what parents actually want for our children, and there is absolutely no way for the minister to know this without actually engaging in a public consultation process that include the voices of all parents. I am also deeply concerned about the bill’s new powers, which would require boards of education to report to the minister on these outcomes and provide the minister with the power to dissolve boards and appoint a provincial supervisor in the place of trustees. Communities vote for trustees—having a provincially appointed supervisor who has no relationship to/with the community, no understanding of what the school and community needs or values, and is not elected is insulting at best, and dangerous at worst.”

What we needed to see from the minister this week was a significant investment in our schools, one that actually accounted for inflation and for all of the massive challenges that our children are dealing with—a plan that actually provided for smaller class sizes; a plan that actually put more teachers and education workers in every school so that every child could get the supports they need from caring adults in their classroom; un plan pour résoudre la pénurie d’enseignants et d’enseignantes dans le système d’éducation de langue française; a plan that made significant investments in mental health, so that every school in Ontario would have access to at least one regularly scheduled mental health professional; a plan that actually tackled the root causes of violence by providing mental health supports and increasing staffing levels; a plan that made sure that all of our children are in safe and supported learning environments by clearing the repair backlog; a plan that provided critical supports for our most vulnerable learners—students with disabilities and accessibility needs; a plan that adequately funds special education; a transition plan for the autism legacy kids; a plan that makes significant investments and provides transparency and accountability to our provincial and demonstration schools.

Instead of that, what we have is a communications exercise that seems largely designed to deflect blame. And what is frustrating is that once again it is our children who pay the price for this minister’s intransigence and this government’s underfunding, just as they have paid the price throughout the past three years.

It is time for the minister to finally accept some responsibility, to finally make the investments that our children so desperately need, and to finally come up with a plan that actually provides our children—every child in Ontario—with the supports that they need to thrive and flourish.

I apologize to the member.

I recognize the member for Barrie–Innisfil.

Point of order.

Merci à ma collègue d’Ottawa-Ouest–Nepean. Vous avez parlé de la situation dans les écoles francophones, la pénurie d’enseignants, de comment il y a, je pense, 300 lettres d’autorisation pour enseigner en Ontario. On sait que dans ce projet de loi, on ne le voit pas. Puis on a entendu aussi des associations des conseils scolaires francophones qui disent que ça ne répond pas au besoin, au grand besoin, parce que—si je vous ai entendu, même—c’était 3 000 dans votre présentation. Si ce n’est pas réparé, ça peut être jusqu’à 3 000, le manque d’enseignants dans les écoles scolaires francophones.

Je vous demande : ce projet de loi-là répond-il aux besoins de la communauté francophone? Et aussi, le manque de respect—vous avez parlé de ce qu’ils font quand ils rencontrent les conseils scolaires francophones et du manque de respect envers eux. J’aimerais vous entendre sur ces deux points-là.

Thank you to the member for her speech.

I have to bring your attention to the pillar under accountability and transparency, as this bill proposes to strengthen accountability by requiring school boards, via the proposed legislation, to be more transparent about their spending and how it supports student outcomes. The member from Ottawa West–Nepean, towards the beginning of her speech, talked about the reporting on HVAC systems that were going into school boards. So I would have to think that the member would be supportive, because what this proposed legislation would do is have the school boards accountable for reporting on things like this.

Can the member from Ottawa West–Nepean say this is a good part of this legislation?

It is now time for questions and answers.

I’m looking forward to getting a chance to take part in debate a little bit later this afternoon.

I did hear during the member from Ottawa West–Nepean’s dissertation here this morning that she said a lack of capital funding has been something that has plagued the province over the last few years.

I’m just curious to know why $15 billion in capital funding, which is the most the province has ever seen, would be such a plague on the province?

I suppose the member opposite did not carefully listen to my dissertation, as he thinks he did. He actually wasn’t listening at all.

I did mention the figure $16 billion, which is the school repair backlog—actually, we know that the school repair backlog is even greater than $16 billion; we just don’t know by how much, because the government has refused for several years now to report it. I know the member opposite hasn’t benefited from these new investments in math, but I think the member can probably still do the basic math here that $15 billion is less than $16 billion. We’re not even fully funding the repair backlog. And that funding also has to go to the creation of new schools. So if we wanted to be sure that every child had a safe environment to learn in, we would be investing more.

Je doute absolument que les conseils scolaires francophones puissent mettre en place un nouveau curriculum en français pour septembre. J’ai peur aussi que les changements dans ce projet de loi—si on ne consulte pas avec les conseils scolaires, les mesures ne répondront pas aux besoins des conseils scolaires. Et nous avons vu déjà la pénurie d’enseignants et d’enseignantes de langue française. C’est parce que notre gouvernement a échoué de considérer les besoins particuliers des conseils scolaires francophones.

What we have seen is that parents have repeatedly complained about the human rights of their children not being respected, and the Ontario Human Rights Commission has had to respond that that is an issue of a lack of government funding rather than a failure on the part of the school boards.

Let me tell you, if we really respected the rights of francophone learners in this province, then francophone school boards and francophone educators would be consulted on changes before they were made. We would take into account the fact that decisions that affect anglophone school boards in one way do not affect francophone school boards in that same way. We would be considering the fact that children with disabilities and accessibility needs in the classroom can’t get the same treatment as kids who don’t need any special kind of support. We would actually be consulting with parents, with unions, with school board trustees to make sure the supports were in place to protect the right of every child in the province to a high-quality education.

It is absolutely essential that we take into account the conditions in our schools, because those are our children’s learning conditions. When they don’t feel safe, when they can’t be in the classroom or they can’t be in school because of levels of violence, they can’t learn. When the supports aren’t there, they are unable to learn.

Unfortunately, the way special education is funded, our children with disabilities are not getting supports, and that is disrupting their education. Many of them are not even able to be at school full-day, full-week because of this underfunding. Many of them aren’t getting the supports they need to allow them to participate in learning in the classroom.

A government that actually wanted to help every child in our province to receive a high-quality education would be funding special education based on needs instead of some kind of strange statistical projection that has nothing to do with what is taking place on the ground in our classrooms.

Accountability and transparency are absolutely meaningless when school boards are being forced to make cuts to the teachers and education workers who would actually help our children to achieve success, when schools are lacking the educational workers that would actually allow children to be in classrooms so they could achieve success. Transparency is meaningless without an actual plan to get us from A to B.

I listened intently to the information that was provided by the member opposite.

The reforms proposed in the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will ensure that Ontario is getting more classrooms into communities—including the French language.

To be clear, linguistic and denomination educational rights will be protected. In fact, the Ontario Human Rights Commission is pleased to know about the overhauling of the language curriculum and the screening of all young children, in its Right to Read post. Does the member opposite disagree with the Ontario Human Rights Commission?

I rise today with sadness to share the devastating loss of the Black Walnut Bakery Café, which was destroyed in a fire on Sunday, in my riding of London West.

Located in an historic 145-year-old building, the Black Walnut Bakery Café has been an anchor in London’s treasured Old South neighbourhood since 2011. Owners Ed and Mandy Etheridge are known for their dedication to the community and their commitment to maintaining the heritage feeling of the building. Local residents and Londoners have gathered at this neighbourhood gem for years for coffee, light lunches, and my personal favourite, oatmeal and date scones.

Many thanks to London firefighters who responded immediately when the fire broke out at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, fought the blaze for over eight hours, and conducted search and rescue to confirm the building was unoccupied. These brave men and women ensured everyone was safe. While, luckily, no one was hurt, the structural and roof damage were too substantial, and the building could not be saved.

With overwhelming support from across our city, Ed and Mandy are determined to rebuild this beloved institution and are working to relocate their staff to Black Walnut’s two other locations in the meantime.

I echo comments of the Old South Community Organization: The entire community stands with Ed and Mandy as they plan for the next evolution of the Black Walnut Bakery Café.

London–Fanshawe, thank you.

There’s lots of great London representation here, so I know how the Speaker could get confused.

I want to thank the member for contributing to debate. She mentioned the legacy funding, the legacy children, near the end of her speech. I just wonder if she could expand on, since there wasn’t a consultation, what that’s going to look like for parents and legacy kids returning back to school.

There’s time for one final question. I recognize the member for London West—London–Fanshawe.

Further debate?

Second reading debate deemed adjourned.

I’m proud to say that Ontarians experiencing or at risk of homelessness will be getting a hand up from our government to be better connected with emergency and transitional housing, including in my community of Newmarket–Aurora.

Last Tuesday, I had the privilege of being at regional headquarters in Newmarket to announce that the regional municipality of York will be receiving more than $36.7 million in 2023-24 under the Homelessness Prevention Program. I am thrilled to say that this represents a 76% increase in annual funding. The boost in this funding is part of the initiative that we are taking to tackle homelessness head-on and provide support for Ontario’s most vulnerable by including an additional $202 million annually in homelessness prevention programs in our 2023 budget, Building a Strong Ontario. This allocation will allow York region and local supportive housing service managers the flexibility to allocate funding where it is most needed, including capital projects.

I’d like to thank regional chairman Wayne Emmerson, commissioner of community and health services Katherine Chislett, and their entire leadership team for their continued support of our community’s well-being.

I’d also like to thank the member for Thornhill and the member for Markham–Thornhill for joining me last Tuesday.

I didn’t know that.

Thanks for that great question.

What we’ve seen is that kids who have been in therapy full-time for the past five years are being transitioned abruptly to schools with no support or coordination, no kind of plan. These kids, in some cases, are non-verbal, won’t even be able to understand what is happening. Many of them are flight risks or safety risks. And yet, there are no additional supports to schools to actually keep these kids safe. What the parents of autism children are saying is that this is going to be absolute chaos and set these children—

I know we’ve only got about five minutes to get things kick-started here, but I did want to mention that I will be sharing my time, once we resume debate later this afternoon, with the member from Newmarket–Aurora.

Of course, it is a pleasure to join debate today. It has been a good morning here in the House. I know that any member who has heard me stand up in here before will know—and I’m going to say it again for those who haven’t heard—that I have five children, all in public school. That’s why I’m very, very excited to see this bill, hopefully, come to fruition and become law in the province of Ontario. All of us here who are parents—or maybe even, dare I say, there could be some grandparents here in the House. They’re also, I think, very excited to see a lot more transparency, a lot more accountability, and historic investments being made by the Minister of Education to move education forward in the province of Ontario.

Another thing that may come as a shock to some of the people here is that I’m the son of a former Premier. In my case—

But I digress, Madam Speaker. I guess what I’m really getting at is, we’ve got a little bit of an inside track to try to figure out how to navigate the school system, and it can be a challenge for a lot of people.

The key goal for Bill 98 is simple: You should not need to be the son of a former Premier to know who to call about your child’s education. You shouldn’t need to be a former school board trustee to know how to navigate the education system. You shouldn’t need to be a member of provincial Parliament to know the local priorities of your school board. It’s time to make the education system more accessible for the average family. For too long, information on local priorities has been too difficult to access for many families across this province. This bill, if passed, will make outcomes for families of all backgrounds—and I think that’s key. We’re not just selecting a few; this is for all the people across Ontario, to make education more equitable, and I hope members on all sides of the House can support that.

Bill 98, for the first time in Ontario history, would require school boards to make their plans to improve student achievement public. It would also require them to give every single parent the opportunity to view and review these plans at the start of the year and at the end to measure progress.

The Minister of Education has said this—and I agree: “Our government has no higher purpose than to protect the children of this province.”

I do want to say that one thing that I’ve been able to take part in was the Safer School Buses Act. Most of you who have seen a school bus here in the province of Ontario over the last year have now noticed that they have a yellow or an amber lens and a red lens. We were the last jurisdiction in North America to adopt this. I know this was something that you were very interested in. We’ve had many—

Last Saturday, I had the honour of attending a gala dinner in recognition of the 15th anniversary of Hospice Renfrew. It was a wonderful evening that presented the opportunity to honour and recognize not only those who have worked at Hospice Renfrew, but those who have volunteered, as well. A scrumptious meal was served, and board chair Gerald Tracey as well as other members of the board took their turns at the podium offering their thoughts and personal stories about what Hospice Renfrew means to them.

Almost 20 years ago, the original board chair, Jim MacKillican, sought my support in lobbying the government for a six-bed hospice in Renfrew. Once that approval was granted, it was amazing and gratifying to see the community come together, raising the necessary funds through gifts and donations in kind that saw it open its doors in 2008.

Over the past 15 years, Hospice Renfrew has proven to be an absolutely tremendous service for end-of-life care, delivered in a way that only can be provided in a hospice setting. I know of countless families whose loved ones have experienced their last days in the caring, compassionate hands of the people of Hospice Renfrew.

In our changing demographics, it is clear that the end-of-life care delivered in hospices will be needed more now than ever as baby boomers become their residents. Our government recognizes this and is providing funding to hospices at levels never seen in the past.

Congratulations to all at Hospice Renfrew, and I look forward to closely working with you to achieve continued excellence in delivering what only hospice can.