I want to thank the member from London North Centre for his presentation today. And I would love to take him up on his offer to visit his OSPCA. I always like to see good people caring for our animals—something near and dear to my heart.

What I actually want to talk a little bit about today is the justice system.

Throughout COVID, we moved 25 years in 25 days to make sure that we can cut red tape across government, and that has many benefits to people—people in our communities who were able to get to the justice system; quicker, better access; people who can’t get from A to B, so they’re able to learn online.

You intend to vote against our red tape reduction measures, but they do have many benefits for the people of Ontario, especially those with lower income. I’m going to ask you a little bit about this bill—cutting red tape to help out those lower-income earners, to make sure they can get justice faster. I just want your thoughts on that.

I thank the member from Scarborough Southwest for her important question.

Yes, access to justice is vital across our province. It’s so unfortunate that we see some attempts at improvement within Bill 46 and yet we’ve also seen a government that is cutting legal aid. I remember attending the opening of the courts, and never before have I seen Chief Justices and people who are in positions of legal authority condemn a government so strongly because of their dramatic cuts to legal aid. Those cuts to legal aid meant that so many people who are refugees, people who are new Canadians, were struggling with access to the courts, and it has caused an overall problem. We need to do more to make sure that our courts function as effectively as possible.

I’m an animal lover myself. I think that says a lot about you, as well, as a person.

Access to justice is critical. Frequently, when we hear this government talk about pieces of legislation that the opposition voted against—it’s because they often include that poison pill. They include things that we cannot possibly support. You hide that poison pill, often, within some reasonably decent measures.

We’ve also been recommending hiring more adjudicators to the Landlord and Tenant Board to make sure to clear that backlog, because access to justice is vital to a functioning democracy.

The evidence has clearly been shown, through numerous reports, through the Ontario Federation of Labour, through the Ontario injured workers support network, that when people are denied the support they deserve, the supports they require, not only do they have a physical injury, but they will also have worsening mental health conditions, and I think it’s no wonder. You go to work; you’re going to provide for your family. Nobody asks to be injured, and they need that vital support. They need somebody to recognize that they’re not just making up some story. Instead, the WSIB does the exact opposite. It’s in the claims denial business. It’s trying to look at its bottom line. It’s the difference between publicly delivered health care and privately delivered health care. What is your mandate? Is it care or is it profit?

My colleague talked a bit about WSIB. We’ve heard the term “access to justice” being thrown around. We know that injured workers are often deemed to do phantom jobs that don’t exist just to push them off of WSIB. They then try to get on to ODSP and get into low-income housing and have trouble there. And they don’t have access to the Landlord and Tenant Board, because this government has decided that giving above-guideline rent increases is more important than tenants—or landlords, frankly—being able to have discussions about the rental of a unit.

We know that it’s low-income, racialized people who are disproportionately represented within our justice system.

Is there anything you see in this bill that will actually address the Landlord and Tenant Board issues or the WSIB issues that we are seeing in this province?

The government side keeps talking about reducing red tape. Those of us on this side of the House are very leery when the government—any Conservative government, like the previous Mike Harris government—talks about reducing red tape, because what you often find is something like Walkerton, where people were very ill and died because the Conservative government cut red tape and the water was contaminated.

Speaker, I want to ask my colleague from Toronto Centre to speak a little more about access to justice. She talked about jury duty. I don’t think many people would know that if you are called for jury duty, you are not paid for that duty, you lose time at work and pay, and child care costs are not covered. So I’m wondering if my colleague from Toronto Centre could talk about how that, in itself, is a barrier to access to justice—because you’re talking about people not being able to keep a roof over their head or food on the table or take care of their children if they actually are called for jury duty.