It is an honour to stand here today and speak to just how important the well-being of our students is to our province and to our government. Led by the Minister of Colleges and Universities, our government is committed to ensuring students have access to a secure and safe learning environment. We’re taking necessary action to protect our future.

As the Minister of Colleges and Universities stated, campuses across the province—from the GTA to rural and northern Ontario—are not only places of learning; they are centres of employment and economic growth for the communities, cities and regions they call home. Our colleges, universities, Indigenous institutes and private career colleges are key drivers of economic growth, prosperity and competitiveness. Post-secondary institutions are pillars of their local communities and leaders in preparing the people of Ontario for the jobs of today and for the jobs of tomorrow.

Speaker, I consider myself incredibly fortunate to not only represent the riding I grew up in but to represent a riding built on diversity. There is nothing the people of Brampton cannot do, and that is in large part due to those who decided to move to Brampton and make it their home. Often, what attracts them is our post-secondary education system. Our system is in great standing on the global stage. Not only has it done an incredible job at attracting international talent, but these institutions constantly produce skilled talent that keeps our province competitive on the national and international stage. Brampton is home to Sheridan College and Algoma University, and it will soon be home to the Toronto Metropolitan University school of medicine and a number of other post-secondary institutions.

Attracting Ontarians to the region from around the province, and many from around the world, it is our responsibility to ensure that our colleges and our universities are set up to protect those same students. Some of these young students are coming from countries on the other half of the world. They say goodbye to their friends, brothers, sisters and parents. In some cases, they’re saying goodbye to their partners and their children as well. They make an enormous sacrifice. Not only do the students make this sacrifice—but also the families of these students, who put their trust in our province to protect them and ensure they have every opportunity to succeed.

Speaker, we have taken recent steps to strengthen supports for post-secondary students reporting sexual violence or harassment. Our government understands we have to also specifically address sexual misconduct by faculty and staff towards students. That’s why we’re proposing legislative amendments that would require publicly assisted post-secondary institutions and private career colleges to have specific processes in place that address and increase transparency of faculty and staff sexual misconduct. If passed, these changes would better protect students who fall victim to faculty and staff sexual violence. This will be accomplished by strengthening the tools available to institutions in order to address instances of misconduct against students; for example, deeming sexual abuse of a student to be just cause for dismissal.

Speaker, let me be clear: No student should ever have to see the face of someone who commits sexual misconduct walking around the campus. If this horrendous act is ever committed, the guilty have no business near any school or near any campus. Schools need to create a welcoming environment for students, and Bill 26 will help us do that. Students are not dedicating hours upon hours of their days and weeks to fail. They want to succeed. Providing them with a safe environment and as few distractions as possible will not only help each individual student, but it will strengthen our province. Successful students are successful leaders of tomorrow’s workforce.

I’ve said this before in this House: Ontario thrives off its diversity. Ontario is a place where it doesn’t matter where you come from, who you love or how you choose to worship God; everybody deserves the same opportunity to succeed. We have attracted the world’s most amazing people, who have helped to build this identity in this province. However, we need to continue to work to maintain the dignity of our system.

We have a shortage right now of nearly 400,000 in the skilled trades labour workforce—good-paying, life-changing jobs that we need to fill.

I was fortunate enough to recently join the Residential Construction Council of Ontario’s third annual Addressing Racism in Construction webinar, where I delivered a keynote address. I mentioned that if we’re going to meet our goal of building 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years, we need 100,000 additional construction workers alone. A lot of these roles are being filled internationally. People are bringing their families to Ontario to start a life anew. This is great for Ontario, as we also combat the labour shortage, but the shortage is going to get worse before it gets better.

Our government understands the importance of attracting international talent. However, it’s important to ensure Ontario is a welcoming place for these individuals who in many cases go on to become new Canadians. We need to let them know that their children are in good hands. If we’re going to be a welcoming society for people, we need to create a home that makes people feel welcome when they get here. We need to assure parents that their children will be safe in middle school, safe in high school, and safe in their post-secondary endeavours. Attracting this talent includes building the infrastructure to support a sustainable lifestyle, making them feel safe here and giving them every opportunity to succeed.

I’m proud of our Minister of Health’s recent announcement that Ontario’s nursing college can now start allowing internationally educated nurses to practise while they work towards full registration. This should mean thousands of more nurses to support our health care system, while giving those who are ready to support an opportunity to do so. That’s just one change introduced by our government that could potentially help nearly 6,000 active international applicants in Ontario.

Bill 26 will also introduce legislation preventing the use of non-disclosure agreements to address instances where an employee leaves an institution to be employed at another institution and their prior wrongdoing remains a secret. This is a change that is long, long overdue. There’s absolutely no reason that any case of misconduct or harassment should go hidden. There should be zero tolerance. That’s exactly what our government is fighting for. We are fighting to keep our students safe.

Students deserve to be taught by good people and separated as far as possible from crooks. There should be no opportunity for anyone to reoffend. That is out of the question.

Speaker, the thought of a creep lurking around job to job, given their history, is something that sends shivers down my spine.

Another key component of Bill 26 is a requirement for institutions to have codes of conduct regarding faculty and staff sexual misconduct. Setting this out in writing should leave no doubt or question on the expectations of faculty and of staff.

Speaker, our government has a plan to protect our students so that they can make the most out of their post-secondary careers. No student should have to worry about sexual misconduct from staff and faculty. That has no place in our schools and, frankly, no place anywhere in our province. All post-secondary institutions have a responsibility to provide a safe and supportive learning environment and are expected to do everything possible to address issues of sexual violence on campuses.

The Minister of Colleges and Universities is committed to supporting our students. The ministry held extensive consultations with over 100 stakeholders with the knowledge and background to ensure we can implement the necessary changes and do so successfully. These stakeholders included representatives from post-secondary institutions, representatives from labour and student groups, private career colleges, faculty associations and community organizations. They are the ones on the front lines with our students.

Our government’s actions to date include strengthening the policies that protect post-secondary students who report incidents of sexual violence or harassment on campus. The next step is for a separate process for faculty and staff misconduct towards students. These changes will not only help protect students in cases of faculty and staff sexual misconduct but will also allow the institutions to better address complaints when they arise.

The changes also build on the new regulatory amendments that our government introduced last fall to protect students from inappropriate questioning or disciplinary action when they report acts of sexual violence. Going through some of the horrid instances some students have experienced is enough. The questions they face need to respect them as they go through the after-effects of the crime that was committed on them. These are some of the hardest times for a victim, and it is important for them to be treated in a respectful manner—in the way that they deserve—throughout the investigation.

With these legislative amendments, we’ll ensure that all post-secondary students in Ontario can feel safe not only on campus but all around.

Speaker, I’d like to tell a story, and unfortunately, it’s not a unique one. It’s a story that breaks my heart, but it’s one that is important that we share. I won’t be naming the specific institution because calling out actors isn’t what’s important here. Doing the right thing is what’s important. A professor at a school in the Niagara region was accused of sexually assaulting one of their students.

Students who become victims aren’t just students; these victims are somebody’s sibling; they are somebody’s child; they’re our friends or colleagues; they’re people who just wanted to learn and don’t deserve what happens to them.

In this specific instance, the university’s internal investigation was able to confirm the allegations against this professor were indeed true. Before he committed his crime, he tried to give alcohol to the student. It was found that this professor made unwanted sexual comments and sexual advances.

Speaker, students have the right to feel safe when they approach their professor in school. They have the right to ask questions, participate, and if they still don’t understand something or need some extra help, they deserve to be able to go to the professor’s office hours and have that extra time. A student should not need to bat an eye when going to their professor for help. A professor’s job is to teach. But if tools like non-disclosure agreements can hide predatory histories of staff and faculty when they move to a new school, how can a student trust that they will be safe?

Speaker, in the specific story I referenced, after nearly three years away from teaching, the professor was welcomed back to teach again at the school. The school announced—again, nearly three years later, after finding he was guilty—that he had the right to return to his teaching position at the university under the faculty’s collective agreement and a recent legal arbitration decision. I’ll note that after public outcry this school in question eventually did the right thing, but it makes you wonder about the cases that don’t receive the same kind of public attention and the same kind of public backlash.

Bill 26 would have ended this before it got worse, and it will end the cases that don’t receive the same attention. That’s why this is such an important piece of legislation that we’re debating here today.

Introducing guidelines and hoping staff and faculty don’t reoffend isn’t fair to our students. It’s not fair that they’re put in a situation where their learning isn’t their number one priority; instead, they ask themselves, “Why is my professor such a creep? What if something happens to me? Am I safe where I am today?” I know that is not what we want our education system to be. Just the idea of allowing a predator back to teach classes resulted in protest and severe discomfort for students. At any point when the priority isn’t learning, something is not right.

Bill 26 will ensure students are able to focus on what matters most: their education.

I’m proud to speak on behalf of our students on a bill that will bring so much good to Ontario. Again, I commend our Minister of Colleges and Universities as well as the Minister of Education for their amazing and important work to ensure that our students, no matter what age, are put first.

Speaker, there’s another element to this legislation, on a bit of a different note but still with a very significant impact, particularly for residents in my riding, in Brampton. Our government is committed to working with Toronto Metropolitan University, for the first time ever giving Brampton students an opportunity to become Brampton medical students and eventually become Brampton doctors. Statistically, a significant percentage of students choose to stay in the city where they studied and practise. For a city like Brampton, which has been growing so quickly and, like so many other parts of the province, has been experiencing a health care crisis, a medical school is exactly what the doctor ordered. I hear it from my constituents all the time:

Brampton needs more doctors and better health care infrastructure. That’s why I’m so excited that under the leadership of our Premier, our government is getting it done for Brampton. We’re getting it done with the Toronto Metropolitan University. We’re getting it done by delivering the Peel Memorial Hospital. I’ve been working closely with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities as well as the team at TMU to move things along sooner rather than later.

It has been decades since the GTA saw a medical school, and it is our government that is making it happen.

The Brampton medical school is a huge win for the city. The economic impact will be extraordinary. A new school means students and faculty. This means more economic activity in the surrounding region. In Brampton, the growth around Sheridan College, for example, saw nearby businesses see massive growth. We see it with the recent changes to Algoma, the growth at Algoma—where they’ve grown to 3,000 students who are learning in the heart of downtown Brampton. We’re seeing that from many of the small business owners who had a tough time throughout COVID—that this experience of having the campus nearby, of having young people spending money, going to their businesses, going to their shops, very much kept them afloat. And the economic impact of having so many bright, talented young people in our city cannot be overstated.

With the influx of students that we’ve seen in Brampton, we have been booming, and that is exactly what we need to do as we build our economy—creating more jobs. And creating more jobs, we know, will create a stronger province. It’s crucial that we get things moving quickly.

This starts with the strong efforts of the Toronto Metropolitan University to begin a new chapter with their recent name change. Our government introduced legislative amendments so the university can legally change its name to Toronto Metropolitan University. This is an important step to allow the school to move forward and to allow people in our province to heal. The change in name supports our government’s efforts to ensure that Ontario has a post-secondary system that embraces accessibility and inclusivity, and that promotes success for all learners, including Indigenous ones, so they can find rewarding careers.

We’re also introducing amendments that would allow Toronto Metropolitan University to change the composition and increase the size of its senate to reflect the addition of two new faculties, one of them being the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, the other being the soon-to-be-established school of medicine in Brampton, Ontario. This will ensure the senate has representatives from all faculties at the university.

From hearing from the team at Toronto Metropolitan University, I can say these changes are big. Everyone involved is excited to be another step closer to opening the doors to medical students in Brampton. Brampton is ready.

For far too long, as Brampton has continued to grow at an exponential rate, the infrastructure support has remained stagnant. But thanks to our Premier, our government is ensuring Brampton is getting the recognition it deserves so that my constituents, so that new Canadians who want to make Brampton their home, so that families and our students can all live in a city where they don’t have to worry about long waits for health care, where they don’t have to worry about endless congestion on the roads, and where they don’t have to worry about their kids not going to school.

Our government has made it clear since day one that we will always put our students first.

And I would remind my colleagues in this chamber that one of the first things I said in my inaugural speech is that outside of this chamber, there’s not a Progressive Conservative Ontario and a New Democrat Ontario and a Liberal Ontario; it’s just Ontario.

Folks in downtown Toronto are concerned about getting good-paying jobs in a booming manufacturing sector.

Folks in my riding are pretty worried about the climate and their local environment.

We all have a duty, as legislators, to put our constituents first and support good pieces of legislation.

I think what we have here, from the tremendous leadership of our Minister of Colleges and Universities, is a good bill. This is a great piece of legislation that will protect students, establish accountability—so that some of our heinous perpetrators of terrible, terrible crimes will receive the accountability that they should. It will also move forward the legal name change for Toronto Metropolitan University, which is a crucial step for the success of the university, certainly in my city, in Brampton—in Toronto, as well—but also a crucial step for so many as they continue to heal from the wounds of the past.

I would end my comments by congratulating the Minister of Colleges and Universities on putting forward an excellent piece of legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

It’s my great honour to rise today to support Bill 26, Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act. I want to thank the Minister of Colleges and Universities for proposing this legislation, as a strong advocate for protecting our students, our young people—especially young women—so they can flourish academically and socially.

That is why I’m proud to stand up today in support of Bill 26, the Strengthening Post-secondary Institutions and Students Act, which will create a safe, inclusive environment within our colleges and universities across Ontario.

Ontario is proud to have some of the largest, greatest colleges and universities in Canada, bringing the brightest students from across the country and across the world into our communities. My riding of Scarborough–Rouge Park is home to great institutions, such as Centennial College and the University of Toronto Scarborough. Furthermore, I’m excited that our government is building the first-ever medical school right in Scarborough, training over 1,500 health care professionals right in our community. I’m proud to represent the many students across my riding who either commute to school or live in residence.

We are building academic infrastructure and creating a new generation of professionals to support our economy, and we need both women and men to be trained in the jobs of the future. Madam Speaker, these students are the future. We have an obligation to support them and ensure it is a safe and inclusive environment.

I have heard about the terrible experiences that many young people have faced in and around campus. I’m truly disheartened to hear that the Student Voices on Sexual Violence survey reports that 63% of university respondents and 50% of college respondents have reported an experience of sexual harassment, while 23% and 17%, respectively, said that they had a non-consensual sexual experience/assault.

This is not a reality that we can continue to let happen within our post-secondary institutions. It especially cannot come from faculty and staff, who have an obligation to teach and encourage our young people. We’ve made it clear that our government has zero tolerance for sexual assault and we are committed to protecting our students. That is why in 2019 our government required each publicly assisted college and university in Ontario to establish a sexual violence prevention task force. Last fall we introduced regulatory amendments to protect students from inappropriate questioning or disciplinary action when they report acts of violence.

Today we are building on our commitment to protecting all students in post-secondary environments. There is a power structure between faculty and students and we must never allow that to be abused. This legislation, Bill 26, is going to help institutions to better address sexual misconduct against students. We need to set the highest standards in Ontario, ensuring that the relationship between faculty, staff and students is consistently professional.

The strengthened policies would give institutions the tools to deem the sexual abuse of a student as just cause for dismissal, and this bill will prevent the rehiring of employees found to have committed sexual abuse of a student. These measures would prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements to address such cases where an employee leaves an institution to be employed at another institution and their prior wrongdoing remains secret. They would also require institutions to have sexual misconduct policies in place that provide rules for behaviour between faculty, staff and students, as well as disciplinary measures for faculty and staff who break these rules.

As I said earlier, these amendments are not just a stand-alone policy; these are to add on to existing policies laid out by colleges and universities across the province. This bill is the next step in protecting students, and I’m proud that our government has held consultations with over 100 stakeholders, including representatives from post-secondary education institutions, labour groups, student groups, private career colleges, faculty associations and community organizations.

Understanding and addressing sexual violence experienced by our students is a priority for Ontario’s colleges and universities, and we remain committed to creating a safe environment and a safe working environment free from sexual violence. I know that these changes are important to the young people in my community of Scarborough–Rouge Park. I know that for members from this chamber, across this province, these remain important priorities for their communities.

Madam Speaker, I know the long and extensive process which members at Toronto Metropolitan University went through, a lot of whom are residents in my riding, in finding a new name for the university that they go to or the university that they’ve been to. Toronto Metropolitan University is going through a name change to represent this modern university. If this bill passes, the legislation will respect that decision to recognize the process of Ryerson University to formally become Toronto Metropolitan University. These are big steps in the future of TMU, which will better align the university with its current values. I look forward to seeing what’s next in the future of this great academic institution.

Madam Speaker, this is not just an important time for students academically, but also socially as well. This is a time to find their personality, meet lifelong friends and, of course, their future colleagues. So ensuring that young people, especially young women, are able to go through their education feeling safe, comfortable and confident is important. It’s important in creating a strong future for themselves and our community at large. That is exactly what this bill does, taking a zero-tolerance stance against sexual assault.

That is why we need to pass these amendments that would require publicly assisted post-secondary institutions and private colleges to have specific processes in place that address and increase transparency of faculty and staff sexual misconduct towards students. This includes deeming the sexual abuse of a student as just cause for dismissal. This bill prevents non-disclosure agreements to hide their misconduct when they move on to a different institution. When they move on to a different institution to continue to teach, this bill will prevent the nondisclosure. This will prevent the secrecy that they want to remain. I welcome this because this particular piece of legislation brings transparency.

Also, the third aspect of this bill provides guidelines of what professional academic relationships must look like. The government stands with students across Ontario, as well as assuring victims that we will not put up with this anymore.

I urge members from all sides of this chamber to support this bill, to make sure that we not only stand with our students, but we also create an environment where our future leaders are protected and learn in a safe environment.

I’d like to thank the member for Spadina–Fort York for that question. As I said in my remarks, Madam Speaker, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities went through comprehensive consultations with over 100 stakeholders, including student groups, labour unions, labour groups, faculty associations and community organizations. They came up with these aspects to make sure that we have action items to prevent non-disclosure agreements, so there is transparency; to make sure that sexual abuse from faculty and staff towards students is just cause for dismissal; and for institutions to create a framework, a policy, to have proper academic staff and faculty professional relationships towards students.

I think this has action items. It’s a good bill moving forward. I hope all members support this bill.

Madam Speaker, it is often in the toughest times that we find opportunities for change, and I feel this bill is such that, after the allegation at Western, President Shepard and his team took a very focused approach to combating sexual violence on campus. It started with supporting students, making sure that those impacted by the events of last September were supported. It evolved into creating further resources on campus for students, and strengthening the sexual violence policy to provide stronger resources for the institution and better protections for students.

I’m proud to say that Western is one of Ontario’s leaders in combating sexual violence and will continue to work towards that. Our government has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual misconduct, and I think this bill is a good piece that we can all vote in favour of.

Thanks to the member. Our government believes that no one should have to worry about sexual violence or sexual misconduct, on or off campus. As I said, in over 100 stakeholder consultations that the minister and his PA and the team went through, one of the quotes that we got from the president and CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities, Steve Orsini, was, “Ontario’s universities are committed to ensuring student, faculty and staff safety and strongly condemn all forms of sexual violence or harassment. Building on today’s announcement, all of our universities have developed and continue to regularly review their institutional sexual violence policies and processes to ensure that they maintain a survivor-centric approach.”

Madam Speaker, we have consulted the stakeholders, and as a ministry, as a government, we will do so in further opportunities to make sure we are—

Speaker, as the MPP for Ajax, you will know that in the region of Durham we have two universities: Ontario Tech University and Trent Durham—and Durham College.

Underpinning this legislation was a broad consultative process. We’ve had many universities come back to us with their input about the effect of this proposed legislation. I’ll read one paragraph for you: “Ontario Tech University welcomes the province’s strong support for the post-secondary community’s commitment to eradicating sexual violence and maintaining healthy and safe learning, living, social and working environments for its students, staff and faculty members with this bill.”

Taken together, it’s providing the framework to ensure student safety. Furthermore, it is dealing with the issue of staff and staff involvement in non-disclosure.

Would the member from St. Catharines—