It’s a pleasure and an honour to stand in this House on behalf of hard-working Brampton Centre families and offer strong support for both the Minister of Education and our government’s necessary and comprehensive legislation, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act.

Speaker, I’m addressing this chamber as the elected member for Brampton Centre, as a graduate of the Peel District School Board, as a mother of five children currently or previously enrolled in the public school system, and as the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity. That said, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Minister of Education, not just for updating the curriculum and taking action to ensure schools are safe and welcoming learning environments for all students, but for advancing the cause of women’s education in Ontario.

As my colleagues are well aware, our province is facing a very real shortage of skilled trades labour. In just a few years, it’s estimated that one in five jobs in Ontario will be in the skilled trades, yet the average age of people entering the trades is 29. Unfortunately, there is still a stigma attached to careers in the trades, especially among young women.

Women make up 47% to 48% of the Canadian labour force but hold fewer than 4% of jobs in the skilled trades and less than one quarter of jobs in the tech sector. Clearly, we are missing out on a talented demographic that could impact our province’s long-term future. So I applaud the Minister of Education for encouraging young women to take a good look at lucrative and rewarding careers in the skilled trades.

I also applaud him for signing an agreement with Shoppers Drug Mart to distribute free menstrual products to schools in all 72 boards. That’s a perfect example of taking action to make sure our schools are more welcoming and inclusive learning centres.

As I mentioned a moment ago, our province is experiencing a profound shortage of skilled labour, so it is critically important that we update the curriculum to ensure it aligns with the ever-changing needs of the job market.

On many occasions, Brampton families have said to me that the education system really needs to get back to basics. Parents in the riding I’m proud to represent support the minister’s focus on more math, more science, more financial literacy, and greater exposure to the skill trades, but they believe much more needs to be done and that school boards are not accountable to families. We recently saw that in my own community for years, students and parents voiced their concerns about widespread anti-Black racism, discrimination and inequities that were preventing hundreds of Black students from graduating on time. But they were systematically ignored by the Peel District School Board, forcing the province to step in and take action.

Speaker, Ontario’s $27-billion education system is overseen by about 700 trustees who do not always possess a consistent set of skills, training, or a standard code of conduct. The majority of school trustees are diligent and caring public servants, but this system of local governance is badly in need of reform.

If I may, I’ll quote the 1994 Royal Commission on Learning that was created by then-Premier Bob Rae and chaired by former Liberal cabinet minister Monique Bégin and long-time New Democrat Gerald Caplan: “Trustees are elected by a tiny proportion of the electorate, if indeed they don’t win by acclamation. It might be embarrassing to discover how many constituents know their trustees’ names. Board agendas too often reflect matters that are light years away from what happens in their schools; anyone who has sat in on a meeting of a school board knows that it can be a truly surrealistic experience.”

That royal commission outlined a number of deep-seated problems in education that have been with us for a very long time.

It’s clear that if we want to truly reform the education system to prepare our young people for the jobs of tomorrow, we need to take legislative action.

Speaker, in the event that our legislation is passed, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will increase accountability, giving parents new tools to navigate and understand the education system and establish basic qualifications for the directors of education who manage school boards.

The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will also allow the minister to establish key priorities to ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need, especially in areas such as reading, writing and math.

Many of my colleagues are incredibly happy and proud that this act is going to mandate a handbook for parents that would outline their rights and responsibilities within the education system. Just imagine: If you didn’t go through the Ontario public education system, or if you moved to Ontario from elsewhere in search of a better life for your family, you would not have the experience of how best to navigate this system for your children. That is why a handbook is such a game-changer. One of the best ways to hold school boards accountable to families and taxpayers is to remind or even in some cases inform parents that they have rights when they deal with their local board. A handbook for parents is a great idea that is long overdue for our province.

But the act goes further than mandating a handbook.

Our legislation will ensure that trustees have the knowledge and the skills they need to perform their duties, and that their conduct is held to provincial standards. The act would amend the Education Act to require mandatory training for trustees, as prescribed by the Minister of Education. It would create a standardized trustee code of conduct that would be binding on all trustees and set clear expectations for how trustees should discharge their duties.

Speaker, the media has at times publicized some high-profile disputes between trustees—and we did see that in Brampton a couple of years ago. Such disputes are costly, time-consuming, and they erode the public confidence and detract attention from a school board’s primary duty, which is to promote student achievement.

Our legislation would establish a transparent and impartial process for resolving trustee code of conduct complaints through integrity commissioners who would be empowered to conduct investigations, dismiss complaints made in bad faith, determine whether or not the code of conduct has been breached, and impose binding sanctions on trustees.

I’m pleased to add that the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act also includes several other accountability and transparency measures for school boards. The act would enable the minister to require school boards, twice a year, to report publicly on their spending. It would strengthen the minister’s authority to direct and/or prohibit board participation in activities that could place the board at financial risk. It would allow for the appointment of professional corporations to investigate a board’s financial affairs when it is in distress. And it would establish the minister’s authority to prescribe financial policy and accountability matters for board-controlled entities.

Speaker, these reforms are very much in line with the royal commission’s recommendations from nearly three decades ago. To again quote the report, it said, “We recommend the transfer of several key responsibilities away from boards. We believe that determining the level of each board’s expenditures, for example, should be the ministry’s job....

“The primary responsibility of school boards would be to translate general ministry guidelines into viable local practice. Their job is to make local policy consistent with both provincial policy and local realities. They set clear expectations and guidelines for their schools and work with them to make sure they’re progressing towards those ends.”

That’s what the royal commission said nearly three decades ago.

Speaker, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act is thoughtful, comprehensive and incredibly sensible legislation that will help our kids prepare for the jobs of the future and empower parents, and make Ontario’s 72 school boards more accountable to families and taxpayers. That is why I, as a mother of five, am proud to rise in support of this bill.

I would like to share my time with the member from Carleton.