I rise today to speak about something inspiring: Ontario’s labour movement. Last week, we were all reminded who makes this province function, and that’s workers. For a long time, this Conservative government dismissed that, but with the actions of CUPE education workers, along with the support from the entire Ontario labour movement, the government was made to pay attention. Bill 28 should never have been drafted, let alone introduced. It’s a bill intended to break unions and attack workers.

At my office in Niagara Falls, we had nearly 1,000 people telling the government they were wrong. When they decided to use the “notwithstanding” clause to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights, they woke up a giant. They united the labour movement against them from coast to coast to coast.

I hope this government follows through on their promise to repeal Bill 28 immediately.

But we can’t walk away from this experience without holding people accountable. The Minister of Labour sits in this chamber and tells us that he supports workers. He tells the labour movement that he’s their friend. But when Bill 28 was introduced and voted on, he was the first member to stand and applaud its passing. He was happy to strip workers of their bargaining rights. He was happy to continue to attack workers, who are predominantly women, and also supported Bill 124. As Minister of Labour, his role is to support workers in this province, but instead he clapped for legislation that ripped basic rights away from them. For that alone, it’s time for the minister to resign. He never supported the labour movement, and last week he proved it.

We’re joined today by many trade union leaders. l want to recognize Laura Walton, president of OSBCU, and Fred Hahn, president of CUPE Ontario, as well as union leaders. Without naming all of them—because there are so many, I’m just going to name the unions and organizations: OFL, OPSEU, ONA, ETFO, OCUFA, Unifor, the society of professional engineers, OSSTF, the machinists, OECTA, the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, and other CUPE locals, including CUPE Local 7575. Welcome to Queen’s Park.