I rise to participate in the debate on Bill 28, a bill that takes a chainsaw to the charter rights of education workers.

To quote the CCLA: “The notwithstanding clause was never meant to be used in contract negotiations, or as a casual tool to disrupt basic human rights safeguarded in our charter. This misuse, and the flagrant disregard for individual rights is wrong.”

But here we are with a government trampling on charter rights instead of negotiating in good faith.

The sad situation is, this negatively affects our children, because students lose when the Ford government doesn’t care about the people who care for our children; who get up every morning and make sure our schools are open, clean and safe; who provide support for children with special needs and create a stable learning environment for all students. These education workers do extraordinary work under very difficult conditions. But it’s hard to do that work as well as they can because many of these workers are struggling so much in their day-to-day lives to pay the rent and put food on the table, because they are doing it on salaries averaging $39,000 a year.

Speaker, half of these workers have to work a second job just to make ends meet. Many of them are going to food banks to put food on the table. They are simply asking for an extra $3 an hour to be able to do their jobs and pay the bills.

So I want to speak directly to parents and students. I want schools to be open. Education workers want schools to be open. And if we want those open schools to be safe, clean and full of fairly paid workers who can and will focus on student support and success—that will not happen with a government attacking education workers and forcing them to work for wages that don’t pay the bills.

We are experiencing, right now, the tragic results of disrespecting front-line workers and underpaying front-line workers in our collapsing health care system. We cannot allow the Ford government do that to our education system.

So I say to the members opposite: Roll up your sleeves and get to work. Do your job. Bargain fairly. Reach an agreement that puts our students first and keeps our schools open by ensuring that the people who care for them are paid a fair wage.

If they don’t do that—that is why I’m voting against Bill 28.

Speaker, if we want to address the mental health needs of both students and education workers, let’s pay education workers a fair wage so they can pay the bills and serve our students at the same time.

Here’s the bottom line, Speaker: No government in Canadian history has used the “notwithstanding” clause to take away the bargaining rights of education workers. The “notwithstanding” clause—that is something this government is going to have to live with. That’s why I’m saying to negotiate. These workers deserve a fair deal. If we want our students to work in a supportive environment that puts students first, we need to put the education workers who care for and support those students first as well.

There are many examples—as a matter of fact, I believe some members have cited the fact that 98% of negotiations at the table reach a bargain that both sides can live with.

Speaker, if we’re really going to put students first—and I know there are so many parents out there right now who are concerned about schools staying open, who are concerned about the learning gaps their students have experienced during the pandemic—the best way we can create an open, stable and successful learning environment for students is to actually pay education workers a living wage so that they don’t have to go to food banks, so they can actually pay the rent and pay the bills. That’s the decent and right thing to do.

Any of us who say we’re going to put students first—then we have to pay those workers fairly so they can care for our students and create the stable, successful learning environment that our students need and deserve. That is why I’m voting against Bill 28. That’s why it’s wrong.

Get to the table and negotiate an agreement that’s fair to both sides. That’s what’s good for students.

I would like to introduce my friend, Kris Rivard, who was recently elected as a councillor on the West Nipissing council. Welcome to Queen’s Park, Kris.

I appreciate the opportunity to stand in support of the member from Scarborough–Guildwood in her point of privilege today. I believe the member has established that the comments made by the minister presume passage of Bill 28. But I also contend that the minister’s actions, in addition to the minister’s words, presume passage of the bill, because the government has simply refused to go back to the negotiating table. If the government were not presuming passage of the bill this week, I believe it would be in the best interest of the government and the people of Ontario for the government to continue to negotiate with education workers in this province.

All of us have an important role to play in this House. Yes, we are members—well, most of us are members—of political parties, but at the end of the day—

Interjections.

At the end of the day, we represent our constituents. We represent the people of our ridings, the people who elected us. To presume that partisan politics plays a larger role, and then that role of us as members of this House—

Interjection.

It is an important role to play. We’re looking at the first Westminster government—Parliament right now has shown what can happen when you presume passage of legislation that your own party members don’t support. That’s an important role that governments play, that’s an important role that individual MPPs play in this House.

The government may be taking a chainsaw to charter rights with this bill, but they should not violate parliamentary privilege by presumption of passage of legislation before every member of this House has had the opportunity to vote on it.

My question is for the Premier. I want to be clear: I want students back in school in clean, safe—

Interjections.

Speaker, we are experiencing the negative consequences of Bill 124, underpaying and disrespecting front-line health care workers in our health care system. So why would the government repeat the same mistakes in our education system?

I want to say to the parents of this province: If you want your students to be in safe, stable classrooms, with good learning environments, then the government needs to negotiate fair wages with the lowest-paid workers.

My question to the minister is: Why is the government refusing to negotiate in a reasonable, fair way with low-paid education workers asking for a few extra dollars an hour to be able to pay the bills?