I want to thank the member from Windsor–Tecumseh for sharing his time with me, and I want to thank the Honourable Stephen Lecce, Minister of Education. From the moment he got here, even before he was the minister, he has been focused on one thing: making Ontario better. And in the education system, for him, it was ensuring that everything we did as a government had one goal in mind and that is to prepare our students in a better way for the future and what the future is going to bring.

We know we live in a tremendously changing world. I can remember when I was in school; I’m sure there are some teachers that try to forget. Having said that, it was mandatory to attend, so from time to time, I did show up. But I was also around when our children went through the school system, and now our grandchildren.

What I saw when I came here in 2003 was I saw the former Liberal government dissatisfied with the data that was coming from our schools with regard to student achievement. That a fair assessment. But what did they do? You see, here’s the difference, Speaker: On this side of the House, we take our direction from the parents of children when it comes to our education system. The people who have their children in the system are the best evaluators of the system itself. They understand what their children need and they understand if the system isn’t delivering it.

So when we got here in 2003, do you know what the Liberal Party’s and the Liberal government’s answer was to lower-than-desired test scores in our school system? You would think that if your problem is lower-than-desired test scores—do you know what you’re going to do? You’re going to say, “We need to do something to increase those test scores, so we’ve got to look at what we’re doing, what we’re delivering, and how we’re delivering it to those students.” In fact, they did do that, but their answer wasn’t to enrich and strengthen the curriculum so that our test scores were more in line with other jurisdictions. Do you know what the Liberals’ answer was? It was—they got their direction from the leaders of the teachers’ union. I say that because our daughter is a teacher and two of our daughters-in-law are teachers, but you know where the direction comes from: It comes from those people at the top of the scale, the leadership. And the direction from them was, “Well, water down the curriculum, make it easier and then the test scores will go up.”

Well, they did. If you determine that the race that used to be a mile was 5,280 feet and you say quietly, “We’re going to make a mile 4,740 feet,” do you know what? Those people who are running the mile are going to say, “Man, I’ll tell you, those times are good.” But you are not running the same mile.

When we got here, we realized something had to change. I’m going to tell you, in spite of the rhetoric coming from the other side, the attacks coming from the other side, Minister Lecce has stood there like a strong oak tree, focused on what we are going to deliver for the people of Ontario and their children: a better education system that prepares them for the world of tomorrow. The students who are in that system today—it’s not just about today. We know it’s about tomorrow.

Ladies and gentlemen, you talk about that oak tree standing stiff in the wind and not bending, not breaking, and then what happens? The minister gets faced with something that nobody saw coming, this COVID-19 pandemic that threw everything into chaos. But what did we do? We managed our school system. We took the children out of school when it was absolutely necessary, but as soon as possible to the benefit of them and to our system and everybody’s mental health and everything else, we’ve got them back in the class. When the medical people agreed that it was safe to do so, we got them back in the class.

Now we are faced with new challenges. Part of that is student achievement. Again, it has to be addressed. I talk to parents and I also talk to teachers and they say themselves that they can’t believe what’s going on sometimes in our school system. They really can’t believe that what we are doing today is challenging. We have wonderful students. We have 12 grandchildren. Obviously, I’m going to speak highly of them. But look at this group of pages here. You want to talk about the cream of the crop? The folks who come here, the young children who come here—not young children; I guess they’re middle children—come here to serve us as pages.

One of my brothers—my youngest brother, Konrad—was born in 1965. He was a page here in 1978. But the cream of crop is those children who come here as pages. I absolutely guarantee you—and I haven’t asked a single one of them this question—they want to be challenged in life. Because they want to make sure that when the stuff hits the fan, as they say, they are able to face it. We need to make sure that our school system is focusing on those needs. This focus on STEM in the school system today that Minister Lecce said is absolutely vital if we’re going to prepare the students for tomorrow: That’s what we are focusing on.

Now he is looking at other issues in our school system. One of the issues is governance and consistency. If you don’t have consistency, you’ve got a problem, because it’s like what’s good for the goose is not good for the gander. You know the old saying, “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander”? Well, we just have the situation in Ontario where we don’t have consistency; Minister Lecce is going to take care of it.

I see his parliamentary assistant here today as well. I know that MPP Barnes is maybe not listening closely to me, but she’s certainty listening to this entire debate, and she’s listening to parents across this province and what they want to see. Because if you’re a parent, what do you care about most? What do you care about most? As a parent and a grandparent, I know what you care about most: You care about your children. So what are you going to do? You’re going to do everything you can to do the best—you want their lives to be better. I know that my father wanted my life to be better than his. It wasn’t hard for mine to be better; I didn’t have to go fight a world war. But I also want my children’s life to be better than mine, and I want our grandchildren’s to be better yet. What do we do to make sure that happens? We make sure we start out with the right basis, with the foundation.

We talk about what’s important in this world and what’s important for us to deliver as a government, you know that right off the top it’s going to be health care. If you don’t have your health, you’ve got nothing. I don’t care if you’re a gazillionaire, if you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything. But what comes next is our education system, because our education system—I’ll be gone some day. Some people will be happy. I’ll be gone some day; every one of us in here will be gone some day. But the world is going to carry on, and we’ve got to make sure that the people who we have in charge of that world have been prepared in the best way possible, and a successful, challenging, top-notch education system is the way to go. We have the minister to do it.

On that, I would say, I move that the question be put.

As the school year comes to a close, I’d like to reflect on a recurring issue my office has heard from parents, teachers and school board staff. That issue? Staffing and resource shortages in our schools.

Recently, my office heard from a mom whose child is struggling with a bullying issue at school. Jacob is a first-grader and is facing problems with another first grader. The mother has tried various avenues for resolution, but the crux of the issue appears to be lack of support in the classroom and a systemic EA shortage. Jacob is hurt, physically and emotionally. He is confused and afraid. I can’t speak for the other child in this case, but I would assume he also feels forgotten and in need of support.

I have also heard from representatives of our local school board, and they have identified the same issues with staffing shortages. The Thames Valley District School Board reported a $5.4-million increase in expenses for special education for the coming year, leaving them with a $3.4-million deficit for special education expenses alone, and there are other deficits across the board for operating costs.

The independent Financial Accountability Officer recently revealed that the government withheld $844 million earmarked for education at a time when school boards are facing significant funding deficits. The government needs to provide proper funding now and ensure appropriate staff levels at schools across the province so children like Jacob are not left behind.

Obviously we are very much concerned about those kids, and it’s why this government, since coming to office in 2018, has increased the special-education envelope of funding by over $540 million more. As a case study of that investment in this year’s presentation of our funding for school boards, that is going to rise again by $124 million more. That’s going to help families in Windsor and Essex and right across the region, and it’s going to help the school boards have the staff in place to meet the needs of those kids.

When it comes to EAs, education assistants, who principally work with those children, we have 3,200 additional EAs hired under our Progressive Conservative government. We’re proud of that, and we’re going to keep going as we’re hiring 2,000 additional front-line educators, focused on literacy and math, to help kids who are most at risk. We are committed to strengthening the training of our teachers and principals, and we are committed to hiring more staff to support the kids in your region and across Ontario.

So we reflect with great wisdom on the horrid track record of the NDP. We will never go back. We’re going to go forward, and we’re going to continue to build schools. We’re going to continue to modernize education. We’re going to continue to play the challenging function any responsible government will: to demand better for the next generation of this province.

If members opposite are concerned about the interests of public education, then vote today for Bill 98, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. Join this government in standing up for accountability, for the rights of parents and for better outcomes focused on reading, writing and math. We’re going to get back to basics, and we’re going to stand up for Ontario students right across this province.

Nancy will be retiring from the Ontario public service after many decades of public service. Nancy has been a true leader, and everyone looks up to Nancy. We are forever grateful for your legacy in Ontario, and we’re proud to celebrate your service today.

Applause.