My question to the member opposite: We know there’s going to be a significant population increase and we need to use all the tools in our tool box to build more schools and more opportunities—both English-language schools and French-language schools. I just wanted to see if she’s supportive of building more schools in this province, including in many places like her own riding.

I was very interested in the example the member from Carleton mentioned about getting a new school in Findlay Creek. I don’t know if she knows, but school boards establish their priorities for new schools, and these priorities are then submitted to the Minister of Education, who actually makes the decision and approves which schools might be built. So the fact that schools don’t get built is not the fault of the school boards.

I really wish I had the power of the member to get a new school built in my riding.

My question to the member is, what do I need to do or tell the minister so I can get a new school built in eight months in my riding?

I appreciate the member’s question.

It’s so important that all children are supported, but ultimately the nutrition program is run by the municipality, and so the school boards have to work with the municipality to ensure that nutrition is being provided in schools—and this bill allows school boards to do this. So I encourage the school board to work with the municipality, and I encourage the member to work with his municipal counterparts to resolve this situation.

Madam Speaker, our government is making an historic investment in Ontario’s schools by providing a projected $27.6 billion in public education for the 2023-24 school year.

Along with the funding for school board operations, targeted initiatives will support student achievement and well-being. The proposed legislation would, if passed, refocus Ontario’s education on student achievement, prioritizing skills development in reading, writing and math, and hands-on learning. It advances a vision for the system that is centred on preparing students to succeed in life and work, putting highly qualified educators in the classroom while strengthening the voices of parents in their child’s education.

That’s why I’m proud to support this legislation.

This is the challenge—when you’re asking a question about a situation you know absolutely nothing about and assuming that the member doesn’t know what they’re speaking about.

In that particular situation in Findlay Creek, the school was actually not on the capital priorities list. The school board had other schools on the capital priorities list, even though Vimy Ridge Public School had 24 portables at the time and the population was doubled. Even though the school was overpopulated, the school board refused to add a second public elementary school to their capital priorities list.

I worked with the community of Findlay Creek, we created a petition, and we petitioned the school board to place a public elementary school on their capital priorities list and, in fact, they listed it as their top capital priority. As soon as they did that, the Minister of Education, during the next round of funding, provided funding to approve the top capital priority. But that was something—

One thing that our government will do is, we will always respect and value the unique and diverse nature of Ontario’s communities, Ontario’s students and Ontario’s families, because they’re just one piece of what makes our province great.

Our school boards must be able to tailor education delivery to local contexts and needs. The school boards have a responsibility to use the funding that they receive responsibly and appropriately.

That’s why not only are we making historic investments in our education budget, not only are we spending $27.6 billion in education, but we are also making sure that school boards are being held accountable for the money we are giving them. Ultimately, we want to make sure those dollars are getting into the classroom, where they belong.

Thank you to the member for her presentation.

I know that the riding of Carleton—similar to my own riding—has a wide variety of schools and school boards, mixed urban and rural. That represents all of what Ontario has.

We have a variety of school experiences. There are four unique, publicly funded school systems, 72 district school boards, over 3,900 elementary and 870 secondary schools.

In Toronto, there are schools with more than 2,000 students. In northern and rural Ontario, there are schools—including some in my own riding—that have less than 200 students. While each of these schools use the same curriculum, the learning experience is vastly different.

This proposed legislation includes one set of priorities for all school boards for all students. Can the member talk to us about how this will be beneficial for the boards and, more specifically, how it will be beneficial—

I’d like to thank the member for his question. Don’t get me wrong; capital projects are absolutely important and needed, especially where there are communities that need schools. However, there’s also no money allocated in the budget for school repairs. Now, I can tell you, speaking as a representative from Toronto, we have many schools that are old, over 100 years old. The school repair backlog in this province is at over $16 billion. We have kids who go to school who need to wear a coat in the winter to learn. We have schools where kids can’t drink the water from the fountains because it has lead. We have kids who go to school and can’t use the washrooms because the door locks are broken. This is the state of many, many schools, and we need the government to invest in repairing the infrastructure so that kids are not learning in crumbling schools.

Thank you for the comments that you made. I have a question for you with respect to mental health and addictions. Do you believe that treatment should be taking place in the schools? If not in the schools, should it be taking place in the community?

This government put forward $425 million to be spent on mental health and addictions, to address the issues of mental health, not just of adults but also of children and youth. How do you feel about that? Should we be spending more time, more energy and more money in the school system to provide these treatments, or should the treatments be taking place in the community, where they should properly be taken care of?

I want to talk about education, as we are doing today, but I also want to talk about the other schools that we are not talking about, which are provincial demonstration schools: the Amethyst school and the Robarts School for the Deaf.

The member just talked about the funding formula and how underfunded the provincial demonstration schools are. He talked about the fact that this bill only contains four mentions of mental health, but no services or resources or funding attached to that. Can the member talk about how mental health services and many other services are affecting the lack of funding for provincial demonstration schools in our province?