My question is to the member from Whitby. He sits on the justice policy committee and was part of the hearings leading up to this legislation. My question to the member: We heard from a number of police commissioners and police association leaders that you don’t need a post-secondary degree to apply to the OPP in this province, but also, that they felt that having a university degree could pose a barrier for certain racialized communities that would prevent them from joining the police force. They also talked about how critical it is to make sure that individuals in the community see themselves reflected in their police force for community policing.

I’m wondering if the member could please comment on the importance of making sure that our community police forces reflect the communities they serve, and that a vote for this act is a vote for community safety.

Thank you to the member opposite for her comments. I’m happy to see that she supports the initiative for recruiting more police.

My question to the member opposite goes to the training. During the justice policy hearings on Bill 102, we heard from a number of police associations and police chiefs that the average age for recruitment in Ontario is 29; in the city of Toronto, it’s around 26. What they talked about was the fact that imposing a university or a post-secondary degree puts financial barriers in front of a number of applicants for a number of reasons. They want to make sure that they’re recruiting from all aspects of our society so that the police force reflects the communities they’re serving. My question to the member opposite is: Does she support removing—well, it’s not in place, but the removal of the post-secondary degree to make sure we have recruits from all segments of the population?