Before I start, I just want to say thank you to the minister for the wonderful remarks and the amount of work he is doing for the workers in the province of Ontario. He is a true champion.

It’s kind of a coordinated effort today.

I’m pleased to rise in the House today for the second reading of Bill 79, the Working for Workers Act, 2023. During my remarks, I’ll be covering the past, present and future of our province, how we look at it.

Remember the time in 2018 when we took over the government—we were part of the government. Before that, 300,000 manufacturing jobs left the province of Ontario. In 2018, Ontario had the highest debt of any subnational government in the world.

Since 2018, the tables have turned. Under the leadership of the Premier, the government has created conditions for prosperity in the province. This is the government that took Ontario’s GDP beyond the $1-trillion mark in 2021. That is incredible. Thanks to each and every Ontarian for your hard work. It was only possible because we all came together, worked hard and were able to deliver this.

It’s no surprise the members of this caucus are continuously interacting and listening to the residents, to make their lives easier and better.

Many times, I have talked about this: I came to Canada on January 15, 2000, and took my first full-time job as a lab technician at Novaquest, an automotive company. Around 2003, and after, we saw a spiral of reduction of the workload. One of the key reasons was that it was becoming difficult for auto manufacturers to keep up with the cost. The formula is simple: If you’re doing business, and your cost is $10 and your revenue is $12, you’re sustainable. But if your revenue is $10 and your cost is $12, what choices do you have? Reduce your cost, move out or close. And that’s what we saw in each one of those categories.

But since 2018, we worked with the industry to reduce the cost and, through job-creating policies, supported increase in revenue. We did this by cutting red tape, reducing the cost of doing business, making workplaces safer and empowering the workforce. We’ve saved $570 million in annual regulatory compliance costs. We made sure that revenue goes up, expenses go down and businesses become sustainable. The result is very simple. We’ve seen investments of close to $17 billion here in the province of Ontario. We talked about the past, with 300,000 manufacturing jobs leaving day to day. Now, we have 300,000 jobs available in the province of Ontario, and that is due to the policies of this government.

To connect job seekers with in-demand jobs, we are working on four pillars:

(1) help workers and job seekers upskill and train;

(2) promote opportunities and connect people with jobs, especially in the trades;

(3) bring in new workers from other provinces and across the globe—we know the province of Ontario is an amazing place to live and raise a family; and

(4) make sure Ontario workplaces are globally attractive to workers.

We are moving all of these levers, under the leadership of Minister Monte McNaughton and Premier Ford, to propel Ontario forward. We’re offering more and better training opportunities to help people prepare for better jobs and bigger paycheques—and it’s not just words; it is what we are delivering here. That is why we invested in the Better Jobs Ontario program. It offers job seekers up to $28,000 to help with short-duration training and in-demand jobs.

Interruption.

I just want to ask the member opposite: I’ve heard her speak about a few things she supports in the bill, including our reservists and members of our Armed Forces. I want to ask her, if she’s supportive of our Canadian Armed Forces personnel, will she advocate that everyone in her caucus not only wear a poppy but stand up against anti-Semitism and those Canadian Armed Forces members who fought in World War II against the Nazi-Fascist regime?