The Christmas parades are back, and the world is better for it. All across the valley, communities are getting together to do something that everyone loves but that has been missing for the last couple of years. In my riding of Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke, each and every parade is a special experience that speaks in a very visual way about the people, the organizations, the businesses and their expressions of community spirit.

This past weekend, I was able to attend parades in both Cobden and Pembroke.

The Cobden parade is a daytime parade that brings out people from all around the area and sends out the message that Christmas is near. As the first parade of the season in our area, that is most appropriate.

For many years now, the Pembroke parade has been an evening parade, and this year’s edition was truly spectacular. As many as 70 floats took part in the parade, witnessed by the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen in Pembroke.

The floats and the work that goes into them are something to appreciate, and my hat goes off to all those who work so hard to make these parades so very special.

But what really is the most wonderful part of the Christmas/Santa Claus parades is the joy and excitement shown by the children as they anxiously await the arrival of the jolly old elf. As I move along the parade routes exchanging greetings with so many people, it is the reactions of the children that leave the most lasting impressions. The joy of children—isn’t that what it’s all about? I look forward to experiencing more of it this weekend.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

Like many provinces, Ontario is facing our most significant labour shortage in a generation. This labour shortage greatly impacts our economy and communities, particularly in the skilled trades sector.

As our province plans to build for the future, we must ensure that we have enough workers with the right skills to help us meet this challenge. Every skilled trades job that remains unfilled represents unmet economic opportunities for our great province.

I ask the minister: What is our government doing to address the ongoing skilled trades labour shortage?

Helping people gain the skills employers need means they can support themselves, their families and our entire province.

For far too long, people eager to work hard and contribute to our economy faced difficulties navigating bureaucratic processes, leaving them discouraged.

Nothing gives a person a greater sense of pride and worth than the ability to contribute through their work.

Our government should act to remove burdens and lift barriers to help people find work opportunities

My question to the minister: How has our government helped more individuals find meaningful employment in this great province?

The bureaucracy is expanding to support the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.

It’s a pleasure to join this discussion today on Bill 46, An Act to enact one Act and amend various other Acts. It’s the first red tape bill that our new Minister of Red Tape Reduction has brought forward, but I doubt very much that it will be the last, because it is something that we are absolutely seized on, on this side of the House.

And it didn’t start here. I’ve been around long enough to remember when former Premier Mike Harris was elected in 1995. He saw a province that had been governed by the party on the other side here for five years, and saw the absolute growth in red tape in the province of Ontario and what a constricting effect it was having on businesses and people in the province of Ontario.

I know they might get upset with me here, but socialists love red tape and bureaucracy. They absolutely love it. I’m not sure how they’re going to vote on this bill, but I’m sure they’re kind of conflicted because the people out there, they get it. Government is too big. It stands in the way of progress. Every time you talk to somebody on the street and you ask them, “How is this going?”—it could be their project to build a new home, it could be a project to build something in the community, it could be a public institution that’s going to be built in the community—the first thing they’ll say is, “I can’t believe the amount of regulations we’ve got to go through to get that done. It’s absolutely ridiculous.” You talk about other jurisdictions that get things done in a quarter of the time.

This bill is not going to fix all of it, but it does speak to the philosophy and the belief of this government and its members that we can do better. We can make Ontario much better by getting on with moving forward and not standing in the way.

I do want to appreciate the Oscar Wilde quote from the member for Kitchener South–Hespeler earlier today—I don’t have it in front of me—that the bureaucracy is expanding to serve the needs of the expanding bureaucracy. It may not be exactly the quote, but it certainly paraphrases it. That’s what happens as governments get bigger and bigger and bigger. The bureaucracy becomes more and more unwieldy, and the people aren’t even actually able to understand what a blockade it can be.

So you have to have a government that actually takes the position that we are going to remove some of that unnecessary regulation. I don’t know if there’s an actual definition out there, but to me, red tape should be defined as “unnecessary regulation that impedes the ability of society to move forward in a progressive and beneficial manner”—something to that effect; that’s my own definition.

But the members on the other side—while listening to this debate, I have to ask myself, do they really want to debate Bill 46, or do they want to regurgitate something else? Because I heard more about Bill 23 today than I heard about Bill 46. But there’s a news flash for you folks over there: We actually passed Bill 23. It’s now done. But I think youse are a bit conflicted on Bill 46. You actually barely want to speak to it.

With that in mind, Speaker, I move that the question now be put.