It’s an honour to rise today to share with the Ontario Legislature exciting news from Sarnia–Lambton once more.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, one of the top priorities of the Ford government is promoting the exciting and lucrative career opportunities that await people who enter the skilled trades in Ontario. Across the province, many different stakeholders are working to help the province meet its skilled trades needs today and into the future, led by the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

That is why I’m extremely proud to share with the House that the Economic Developers Council of Ontario recently recognized the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership and their innovative Sarnia-Lambton Apprentice Job Match tool as the winner of the 2022 award of excellence for the best workforce development and resident attraction initiative in the province. Through the job match tool, apprentices and employers in Sarnia–Lambton have a simple and effective way to connect and match skills with needs. This means that apprentices are finding work opportunities quickly, and employers are successfully meeting their ongoing labour needs.

Mr. Speaker, our government believes that when you have a career in the skilled trades, you have a career for life. I’d like to congratulate the Sarnia-Lambton Economic Partnership for receiving such an exciting award and thank them for helping new apprentices kick-start their exciting career journey.