I want to thank the member from Barrie–Innisfil for her leadership in this House and for standing up for families against the aggressive federal Liberal carbon tax that is raising the costs on all families and all small businesses in this economy.

In addition to opposing that carbon tax by the federal government, we are also providing direct financial relief to parents. In fact, we have done it three times—$1.9 billion over the past three years in direct financial relief to parents, to help support them and their kids getting back on track.

We just unveiled Ontario’s catch-up payments. I’m proud to confirm that 80% of parents have signed up for this $200 payment for every child under 18 and $250 for every child with special education needs—now, there is still 20% of parents who haven’t, and I’m encouraging all members to promote this investment: ontario.ca/catchuppayments. Apply today; get the relief families deserve.

In budget 2023, we’ve reaffirmed our commitment to publicly funded schools. We increased investments for Ontario children by $2.3 billion overall, even on a baseline evaluation. It’s up $1.3 billion from the year prior.

Mr. Speaker, we know there’s more to do. It’s why we launched a tutoring program—$175 million focused on getting back to the fundamentals and the basics of education, lifting up reading, writing and math skills, and refocusing the system back on strengthening skills and development in our school system. We have a modern curriculum mandating financial literacy and coding and transferrable hands-on learning that we know is critical for these young people to succeed in the economy.

Finally, we’re expanding the skilled trades and technology opportunities—requiring students to now take a tech course, starting next September, opening up their horizons and their opportunities to get good-paying jobs in this economy.