Good morning. Let us pray.

Prayers.

Mr. Lecce moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 28, An Act to resolve labour disputes involving school board employees represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees / Projet de loi 28, Loi visant à résoudre les conflits de travail concernant les employés des conseils scolaires représentés par le Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique.

Point of order.

They have been in school for two months, establishing a positive routine, and I think that is very positive for the kids. It’s amazing to see these children—

Interjections.

I guess the question fundamentally is, do we think that’s acceptable, that every few years in this province, kids are disrupted? I think most reasonable people in this House, but certainly at home, recognize that is an unacceptable proposition for millions of children. We are entrusted with their welfare and best interests. We can’t sit idle. We can’t be a bystander. We have to stand up and take action in defence of public education, which is exactly what the government is doing.

When we listen to the challenges, they’re not very different from past Premiers, and we know the saying is as true today as it was 30 years ago. Kids just went through difficulty and they want to be in school. But unlike the past, unlike the last 30 years, the last two have been unprecedented in human history. We have never seen these impacts on kids. We have never seen the learning loss and mental health adversity. Kids went through such difficulty, with learning regression and mental health difficulty at a national high.

Today Ontario’s government answered the question with absolute clarity: We believe our kids belong in class, and that’s exactly where they will be.

We’re at this point because, after two years of learning disruption in education, unions are at it again. Families across the province are faced with a very real threat that would once again close schools just as life is getting back to normal. It is sad that we’re here in the first place, because we believe the best option is a voluntary agreed-upon option, by all parties. But the union decided on Sunday that they will strike on Friday, not withdrawing their commitment to a strike—imposing hardship, again, on children, on parents and on all communities in the province of Ontario. They signalled they were moving towards a strike even before bargaining had practically begun.

Let’s just remember the context of where we started with CUPE. They introduced the strike notion at the beginning of bargaining. They then opted to move quickly to seek—

Today we know, with this backdrop of the government increasing spending and hiring more staff and introducing new learning tools to get kids caught up, the thought of a disruption is unpalatable and unacceptable to Ontario parents. There is no appetite for this strike.

I want to remind folks here once again that the budget of public education is at the highest level ever recorded in our history. While daily enrolment has remained essentially flat since 2002-03, we’ve added more than 46,000 education workers—that’s 10,000 designated early childhood educators, 19,000 more education workers, 17,000 more teachers and 440 principals and vice-principals in the province. As a result, Ontario has some of the smallest class sizes in the country, because we know how important education is. It’s why we’re making sure our system has the tools and supports in place.

To make sure that our kids have the modern classrooms they need, we made a historic investment of $14 billion over the next 10 years to build new schools and upgrade existing ones. Thanks to the leadership of our Premier, the Minister of Infrastructure and our colleagues across government, we’re getting done what the Liberals couldn’t. We’re building, not closing, schools and creating better futures for students across Ontario. What that looks like is almost half a billion dollars allocated for this year alone to build schools in Ontario.

We are building on a track record of success in this respect, because since 2018 Ontario’s government has approved nearly 200 school construction projects and the development of more than 300 child care and education building projects and more than 100 major projects and schools are being built as we speak. This is going to make a profound difference in the life of a child—and that’s on top of 88 additions and renovations to existing facilities. As we move forward towards making sure every parent and family in Ontario has a child care space, that includes part of 6,458 new spaces approved since 2019.

Speaker, I say this to provide relevant context of where we are at—a government that has increased investments in public education to the highest levels ever recorded in Ontario history; a government that has increased funding per student in every school board; hired more staff—7,000 education workers alone hired under this Progressive Conservative government; a government that has increased funding to parents of nearly $2 billion in direct financial support; and a government that has offered our education workers higher pay, the maintenance of the best benefits and pensions and sick leave, because we value them and we also recognize that they play a critical role in our schools.

What’s become clear more than ever in our education system is that our education workers and our teachers now have the resources they need to keep kids in the classroom. But the barrier to this today is a union on a path to a strike, intransigent in their commitment to a nearly 50% increase in pay and benefits. That’s what today is about. It’s why we are here, because a union on Sunday—an education union this past Sunday, Speaker—announced in this province that they will strike on Friday, and this government is taking action to ensure kids remain in school on Friday and every day this year.

If you listen to the members opposite, would they have just permitted the strike? Would they have sat idle over the past three decades—because there were strikes under the NDP of course in the early 1990s, you will recall, for those of us in publicly funded schools. It happens too often in Ontario, and I think parents and students deserve better.

It’s now more clear than ever that we have to stand up for our kids. That’s what today is about. It’s about keeping students in school and putting an end to more than six years of strikes over the past three decades. Families must be able to depend on and trust our education system to provide our next generation with the tools they need to succeed.

Today our government is making sure that our kids will be in class uninterrupted until June, getting the education they deserve. The Legislature is in a unique position to offer parents absolute certainty that all of us are united in one purpose: to get our kids back on track after two extraordinary years, and that starts with ensuring students remain in class this Friday.

With education funded at its highest levels in our history, with new and expanded tutoring supports and with Ontario’s Plan to Catch Up, our kids, our educators and our schools can recover from the learning loss experienced globally from these past two years of the pandemic. And it starts, Speaker, as the most basic principle of this plan: The philosophy that underpins this strategy is keeping kids in class.

We owe it to our students to make sure they do not take an even bigger bite out of their educational journey. We owe it to them to put an end to a pattern of education strikes that has taken literally years away from our children. And we owe it to them, Mr. Speaker, to pass this bill to make sure our children and our students have the opportunities to become the leaders we know they can be.

Mr. Speaker, when I spoke to parents of the province of Ontario over the past months, they’ve all been clear. In one parent’s words last night on Halloween, “Our kids have been through hell. They deserve to be in school. Everyone knows this.” That message resonated with me, because I think we’ve all seen the impacts on children, either your own kids, nieces and nephews—those around us that we love.

That is an unacceptable proposition for any responsible government, especially when knowing we are increasing our wages for workers every single year over the course of this program, increasing benefits every single year over the course of this program, maintaining perhaps the best education pension plan in the federation and 131 days of sick leave. That is a competitive offer because we pay them—we’re going to hear from members opposite perhaps a different story—$27, on average, an hour. They make more in Ontario than any province east and west of us.

We’ve increased pay every year in the program we’re offering today in this legislation, and should it pass, we will reaffirm our commitment to them by providing job security, sick leave, pensions, benefits and increasing pay for themselves and their families. We’re hiring more of them—1,800 more, specifically—as part of this contract with education workers and roughly another net new 800 teachers, supported by our government’s funding. This will make a difference in our schools. But as I said, Speaker, we didn’t want to be here in the first place.

We signed voluntary deals with every education union in the province of Ontario just two or three years ago. We got a deal with every education union just a few years ago. And it’s sad that we’re here, because we gave the union an offering to avert this needless strike. They showed up on Sunday and they made clear their commitment that they will not withdraw or rescind their commitment to a strike. That’s unfair. That is unfair to students and to parents, and I believe it’s incumbent on the government to stand up for the rights of children to be in class. Yes, because we do believe kids have a right to be in school. We believe that shouldn’t be upended every couple of years in Ontario. Locally, provincially, it’s just a problem, and it creates a great deal of challenge for the people we represent.

And so when we understand the context of why we are here—the funding increases in our schools, the stories of parents with very real struggles in Ontario—when we hear of these concerns observed in our province, the question we must ask ourselves is, what will we do if the union will strike?

I suppose the members opposite may say, “Well, accept the offer of the union. Accept the nearly 50% increase in compensation and all will go away.” Right? That’s not an option of any responsible government. It’s why they sit there and the government is entrusted here to make the difficult decisions of what is affordable, sustainable and fair for the workers in our schools and in the province of Ontario.

It’s why we brought forth a deal that we believe provides stability. But the first principle in this negotiation must be the acceptance that we’ve got to be in school, that parents shouldn’t have to be further burdened by a strike, a needless strike, at a time when children have faced unprecedented difficulties in their lives.

What is the moral imperative that guides us as legislators if not to stand up for the interests of children who, again, are facing another strike in a matter of days? We have an obligation to our children, to the next generation, to the parents who pay the bills, to ensure their kids remain in school. This is a bill rooted in common sense and learned experience because the entire western world has watched as education took a massive hit from the pandemic and the strikes that preceded it uniquely in this province.

We’ve seen the impact it’s had on our kids. After these kids have established routines, have benefited immensely from being in school with clubs and sports, I believe we have to uphold that obligation to them, to the next generation, to ensure that their right to learn is protected, it is supported, it is championed in this province.

Mr. Speaker, we have been clear on our commitment since day one. We will stand to ensure children remain in class. We will advance the principle that children must be in school. I didn’t expect that to be controversial this morning. I thought we all would agree with the premise. But what we’re going to hear from the opposition is perhaps not a clear position on do they support the strike or not. And I’d like to know, do you support the strike on Friday or not? Will you agree and stand in solidarity with the workers on Friday on the picket lines or will you be with parents, will you stand with parents—

Interjections.

Order.

The Minister of Education has the floor.

Minister of Education.

The official opposition needs to come to order. We’ll have lots of opportunity to debate this bill. Right now, the Minister of Education has the floor.

Minister of Education.

In the province of Ontario, all collective agreements are settled by 98% without a work stoppage, including the last time the CUPE workers were at the bargaining table. Bill 28, however, becomes the first instance where a seldom-used “notwithstanding” clause is used to suppress constitutionally protected labour rights in this country—the first time in our history. Why are you not at the bargaining table where you should be and not here right now?

Or will you stand with students and with parents? Will you stand with them all and simply say to the union—

Interjections.

Many of these members from the urban centre of Toronto should be the first to be appalled that kids on Friday—and next week, potentially—will be out of class. But they’re not. There’s silence and complacency here in the opposition, where they should be saying to the union, constructively: “Focus on getting a deal. Oppose the striking impacting children”—

Interjections.

While we’re always open to hearing options—if the private mediator calls the government back, we always stand ready to listen. We stand ready to negotiate. What we will not accept, what we will not tolerate, is a strike impacting two million kids in this province. We will not apologize in the defence of keeping kids in class. That is so important to parents. It’s important to this government and to our Premier.

Today, I’m asking for all of your support for this bill that ensures kids remain in class, and I hope we can work together to ensure we get them back on the right track, in class, learning the skills they need to succeed today and tomorrow and for future generations. By doing so, we will help a generation of students unleash their full potential, give them the tools and the confidence to achieve in Ontario, to graduate, to get a good job, to own a home, to aspire to be the Canadians we want among them. But in order for them to achieve their best, to deliver upon all the aspirations we have for your children and the next generation, they have to be in school. That’s why I implore this House to pass this bill today. Thank you so much.

Interjections.

I’m not sure which benchmark the members opposite are comparing us to. Provinces east and west pay their workers less than Ontario—$27 an hour, on average. That is why we believe the proposal we brought forward—

Interjections.

I’ve heard from a lot of parents, including in Kitchener-Waterloo and that region specifically, about the impacts of social isolation on children. When you speak to the CEOs of the hospitals of CHEO and SickKids, for example—the Children’s Health Coalition that represents them all—the data points are entirely staggering. And frankly, it saddens a lot of people to see so many young people facing mental health adversity. We look at eating disorders and anxiety that has proliferated so largely in the province of Ontario. The impacts are real and the stories are known, and now the obligation on this House is to stand up to make sure that never happens again to these kids in Ontario.

We believe kids should be in school. The members opposite should profess their commitment to oppose a strike that impacts every child in this province. We will do what is right, even if it is difficult, and keep these kids in school.

Learning loss is creating real challenges in literacy and numeracy. We have young kids who just don’t know how to read. I’ve spoken to a speech pathologist who told me that many young children are yet to be able to articulate themselves and basically communicate. They can’t write in kindergarten, grade 1 or 2. It’s why we brought forth a plan, a $25-million early reading intervention program, because we know the challenges are real and it is a necessity to invest, which is exactly what we’ve done and what we’re proposing to do in this bill as well.

I heard the minister opposite tie himself in knots trying to explain away why this government needs to legislate workers back to work who have not left work. Classrooms in this province were closed for 27 weeks—the worst record during the pandemic of any province, and pretty much anywhere in the world—

Interjections.

Interjections.

The government House leader will come to order. The member for Waterloo will come to order.

I apologize to the Minister of Education for the interruption.

Questions to the Minister of Education?

The Member for Davenport has the floor to ask her question.

The Minister of Education.

Minister of Education to respond.

I listened very intently to the Minister of Education go on and on about—let me just shorten it: The last couple of days, starting in August, I have explained to the Premier and the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Education that these workers are paid so low that they feed their children by going to food banks. I would like to know—from the Premier, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Labour—why they’re content with an offer that is going to continue to force workers to go to food banks to feed their children.

In June 2022, the people of this province re-elected our government, partly because of the great work this Premier, this minister and this government did to support parents and students across this province. Speaker, can I ask the minister why our government cannot tolerate even one day of learning disruption?

Minister, I know you and I have had many conversations over the years. I think you all know I have five kids in our wonderful public education system here in the province of Ontario. I’ve seen first-hand what the pandemic has done and how it has set our kids back—but, most importantly, socially. So, Minister, I know you touched on it a little bit in your hour lead, but I’m hoping maybe you can talk a little bit more about how important it is to keep kids in class from a social aspect and help kids catch up with what they’ve missed over the last couple of years.

What is truly unprecedented in this province is that we have an education union in Ontario alone that is confirming they will strike on Friday. We’re the only province with education unions committing to strikes after this pandemic. That is unprecedented. It is unprecedented, it is unfair, and it is necessary for this government to stand up for children and their parents to provide the stability every child in Ontario deserves.

I want to do that again, Speaker. We don’t want to be here. I made that very clear. We shouldn’t have had to have brought legislation to this House, if the union only consented to withdraw their five-day strike notice that will affect millions of kids on Friday—our messages will continue to work to get a deal so long as we can commit to keeping kids in school.

The member for Mississauga–Malton.

Interjections.

Start the clock. The member for St. Catharines.

Further debate?

I will be sharing my time with the member for Sudbury today.

Normally when I rise in the House, I start by saying what an honour it is to speak, but today is the first time that I’m disappointed about rising to speak. I’m deeply disappointed that this government, which consistently put our kids dead last during the pandemic, is now threatening their school year. I’m deeply disappointed that this government, which promised kids a normal, stable school year, is refusing to bargain a fair and reasonable collective agreement which would ensure they experienced no disruptions. I’m deeply disappointed that this government, which shut down schools for more time than any other jurisdiction in North America and consistently refused to invest in the smaller class sizes that would protect them and help them to catch up, is now putting that education further at risk by driving away the caring adults who support our kids every single day.

Every day for the past two and a half years, these workers have been there for our kids, many of them in person, because CUPE education workers fill many roles that still needed to be done in person—cleaning schools, supporting kids with accessibility needs. They have been there for our kids despite the fact that the government was paying them wages so low that one quarter of them have had to reduce the amount of food they use or go to a food bank to get by. And the thanks that this government is giving them is to go nuclear on them and on our kids’ school year, trampling on the rights of workers to collectively bargain and legislating a wage rate that will drive even more workers out of education. So much for supporting our kids. So much for a government that will have workers’ backs.

Let’s be very clear what we’re talking about here, Speaker: CUPE education workers fill very important roles in our schools as education assistants, early childhood educators, custodians, office staff, lunch monitors, IT staff, library workers and bus drivers. They may not be teachers, but our system simply could not function without them.

My kids have been blessed with great teachers, but it’s the CUPE staff at their school who really stand out in my mind as special. Madame Pat, the kindergarten ECE, is the one who loved on my kids every single day when they started junior kindergarten, making me and my partner feel okay about our babies being at school. She’s the one who helped my oldest daughter through a difficult time when mom was away working in the 2015 election, checking in with Mira every day about how she was feeling about mom’s absence. When I thanked Madame Pat later and told her what a support she was to my daughter, she said her heart just soared, because all she wanted was to know that she was making a difference in the lives of her little pupils.

My son, Luc, has been having some health challenges over the past year. And it’s the school receptionist, Ms. Amelia, who is the one that checks in with us every time Luc isn’t feeling well, sharing his symptoms, discussing strategies to see if we can keep him in class or whether we need to come and pick him up.

I’ve heard so many stories like this from parents and teachers, Speaker. These workers are so important to students, to parents and to teachers. They meet kids’ physical needs. They meet their emotional needs. They meet their accessibility needs.

Kerry Monaghan, an Ottawa resident whose son has autism, said, “He was able to attend his first field trip because she was there to be with him.

“Just like she’s with him every second he’s at school doing everything a parent would do for their child with additional needs. She is there when I can’t be. She is worth everything.”

Jason, one of my constituents, has a child with an anxiety disorder that constantly disrupts his learning. Last year, he had an EA in the classroom who helped him to take body breaks when his anxiety got too high. The EA spent countless hours assisting in the implementation of his independent education plan and gave him access to a few thousand dollars’ worth of special equipment that would stay locked up if the EA were not there with him. Jason says the EA changed the trajectory of his son’s educational experience.

In another case that was shared with me, a child with severe motor disabilities was told he would always have a limited ability to communicate and socialize. Due to careful, patient and professional attention from an EA, he is now able to communicate and work with other kids. He is now about to go off to high school precisely because of the improvement he’s made alongside support from his EA.

Another child who refused to talk to other children or teachers and was always alone was transformed through her relationship with her EA, who helped to build her confidence, enabling her to socialize and to make friends at school. Another child who only attended school 20% of the time is now attending school 70% of the time. Why? Because an EA was there to help him patiently with his tasks. After months of progress, he told his EA, “What would I do without you?”

An EA named Maddy had a student in her grade 8 class who was self-harming at school. In one instance, she stayed at the hospital with this student for 12 hours until she was admitted, and continued to be her biggest advocate in order to ensure that she could get CAS support, a psychologist and a plan for her transition into high school. When she moved to remote learning in 2020, Maddy would meet with her remotely every lunch break because this student had no one else to speak with. Doing this work in a broken system was incredibly taxing for Maddy, but she knew it was important work. Maddy and this student have stayed in touch, and this student has now enrolled to volunteer in her class to help other students in need because of Maddy’s impact on her life.

The system simply couldn’t function without these workers, our kids couldn’t get by without these workers, but the minister doesn’t think these workers are valuable enough to be paid a living wage. He doesn’t think that the support they provide to our kids is important enough to ensure that our schools are actually able to hire and retain these workers.

These workers have been telling us that their backs are against a wall. They love our kids, they want to keep supporting our kids, but they can’t afford to keep doing this work. The average salary is just $39,000. Half of these workers have had to take another job just to make ends meet. Half of them have had to put off planned household spending. More than a quarter have had to cut back on food or use a food bank.

We already have a shortage of workers in this sector. As I have met with stakeholders over the past month as education critic, people from every part of the education sector—parents, trustees, principals, teachers and education workers—have all raised this concern with me. Roles are going unfilled, leaving the remaining workers struggling to fill in gaps to make sure our kids remain supported. In some cases, parents are being forced to fill in the gaps, including one parent we just learned about this past week who has to sit outside her daughter’s school every day to make sure that her daughter can use the washroom. In other cases, kids with accessibility needs are being told they can only attend school on certain days or that they’re not allowed to participate in certain activities because the supports aren’t there for them.

Now with this imposition of an unreasonable collective agreement with only a nickel more per hour for these low-paid workers, the minister is ensuring that not only will these shortages remain unfilled, but we’re going to lose even more workers.

I just want to pause here and acknowledge just how shameful it is that this Premier and this minister, both men earning over $165,000 a year, are telling an overworked, underpaid and predominantly female workforce that they need to be “reasonable” about pay increases. A Premier who gave his whole caucus a $16,000 a year raise as if it was candy on Halloween telling workers using food banks to be reasonable: It would almost be a joke, except that the consequences are no laughing matter.

Let’s hear what workers and parents have to say about this situation the government has created. One constituent in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean has been an early childhood educator for over 35 years. She devotes hours of unpaid work each evening in the classroom just trying to catch up. In the midst of the pandemic, she spent hours ensuring that school would feel as close to normal as possible while keeping children safe and focused on learning. As an ECE, she cleans and disinfects her classroom constantly and ends up having to do the work of overwhelmed custodians because their workload is so excessive. Her working hours have increased exponentially because she recognizes that education is a priority, not a last resort.

But doing this extra work takes her time away from the children that need her support in the classroom. She has seen how the excessive demands on education workers have led to a large exodus of skilled workers as they become mentally exhausted from dealing with large amounts of stress. On top of that, she has seen multiple colleagues take on two jobs to support themselves, making it increasingly difficult for these workers to meet the needs of their own families and pay their own bills.

After 35 years, she is earning only $38,000, and with the cost of living so high, she can barely keep her head above water. Her standard of living has dramatically decreased because her salary has not kept up for over a decade. She lives in social housing with rent-geared-to-income, but still often has to ask for help just to get her through the month.

As a parent and grandmother, she wants to see good-quality education programs in the classroom; as a registered early childhood educator, she wants to be respected for her knowledge, abilities, skills and experience. But this government isn’t willing to show her that respect.

Holly Rodrique is a chief custodian at her school. She ensures that all garbage inside the building is picked up, that the bathrooms are cleaned and sanitized, the toilet paper replenished and she orders all of the supplies needed for her custodial staff. She says that sometimes she has people who come into the schoolyard at night and break glass or leave needles, leaving things that could injure the students. It’s Holly and her staff who ensure that these items are picked up. They need to be there to ensure that the school grounds remain clean. They’re the ones who are helping to keep our children safe.

Despite their important work, Holly says that inflation and wage cuts are making it extremely difficult for her and her staff to pay bills and make ends meet. She says, “We’re living cheque to cheque basically, so it’s very, very important that we get a decent wage just to be able to live. I want to fight for things and have them in place and make sure that they’re there for the next generations coming up.”

Crystal, who lives in Ottawa West–Nepean, works as a library technician with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. She currently works part-time at two different schools but works full-time hours. She describes her days as exhausting, often getting home later than she anticipated, spending her evenings repairing ripped clothing for the next day because she cannot afford new clothes. She often comes home with drenched feet from standing in wet grass on yard duty because of holes in her shoes she cannot afford to replace. Crystal’s diet is heavily reliant on canned beans, rice, quinoa and salad. When she is really strapped, she has to rely on friends for meals. Crystal has described her day-to-day life as exhausting, chaotic and even traumatic. In one incident, Crystal witnessed a neurodivergent student throwing a 10-pound weighted ball around the classroom, which forced her to step in and calm down a roomful of students in tears while another education assistant put her body in the way to stop the student from hurting anyone.

As a library tech, Crystal interacts with up to 620 students on a daily basis. Every day she is at risk of catching COVID. Last year she caught COVID three times and had to isolate for at least a week each time. She used all her 11 sick days and was forced to go on short-term disability to cover the rest. She feels she is past her limit, stressed beyond belief, but cannot even afford to take a day off for her mental health because she’s used every one of her sick days.

Crystal loves her work and doesn’t want to do any other job. She feels so fortunate that she has the opportunity to meet these students so young and watch them learn and grow, that she can share with them her love of reading, of learning and a curiosity for the world around us. She strongly believes that students deserve respect, kindness, compassion and, most importantly, a safe and equitable learning environment.

The stress that is caused by this government’s willingness to take away her right to bargain is one more reason for Crystal to want to leave the field altogether. She is already on the brink and cannot fathom having to continue in this field without support from the government.

Nicola is an educational assistant with a lengthy list of responsibilities. She provides behavioural support, medical support, toileting, lifting children, yard duty and other daily tasks. Lately she has been integral in supporting children’s mental health in schools, which we know has suffered greatly throughout the pandemic.

Instead of supporting educational assistants like Nicola, this government has cut funding and prevented new hiring. Nicola says that this significant lack of staffing has made it impossible for children to access all the experiences that make school valuable for our children. For example, she knows that many clubs have been cut. Field trips have been cut because the support isn’t available to make them possible. Children who are struggling and need extra support are not able to access it because, again, the support just isn’t there.

If a staff member is sick and requires a day off, the lack of staffing prevents jobs from being filled, meaning children are often left without the assistance they require. Additionally, if a staff member is pulled from one child to work with another, the staffing shortage means that there will be a child in the building left without support, just because one child may need it more than another.

A fair living wage is not only very important to Nicola and her co-workers but also much deserved. They need more support to help them through the day, so that our children are getting the most out of their experience and are accessing all that is out there to help them reach their full potential.

Another education worker reached out to me with concerns for her safety in the classroom. With so many staffing shortages, she and her colleagues are finding themselves in vulnerable positions, especially during incidents of violence. Workplace violence has become so normalized for her, and she is begging the government for more support. She shows up to support her students who struggle with aggression because they deserve support. It’s important work, and if they aren’t there for these students, nobody will be. All she wants is to be fairly compensated for this work and have the security of knowing that there will be other staff to help when she needs them. She does not feel supported by this government, and now even less so with their unwillingness to meet the basic needs of education workers across the province.

Sharon reached out to my office yesterday to express her concern for the state of our education system in Ontario. Sharon’s grandson has ADHD and could not be in school without the help of education workers. She recognizes how important their role is and can see the change in her grandson when he does not have that support. Sharon fears what may happen if this government continues to exploit education workers, and what effect this may have on her son, who is dependent on his classroom support worker.

Recently, she learned that her grandson’s worker earns just above minimum wage. As more and more education workers leave the field for jobs that pay a living wage, Sharon knows that it’s only a matter of time before her grandson’s education worker decides to do the same.

Christina called my office yesterday to express her frustration over the minister’s back-to-work legislation. She has never before, in her life, called a government office, but she is beyond frustrated with the decisions of this government. She described this legislation as a complete overstep and an abuse of power. Her son relies on a tutor to keep up in school because he doesn’t have the one-on-one support that he needs in the classroom. She cannot fathom why this minister feels that a $200 support for tutoring is more important than providing education workers with an adequate wage increase and support. That $200 will provide her son with a couple of weeks of one-on-one tutoring, but at what cost? The potential of losing more education workers who could provide him the support every single day or relying on education workers that are overworked and overburdened with too many students’ needs will be more harmful to her son’s experience in the classroom.

Lisa is an ECE in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean, and she told my office that she loves her career and her students. However, she cannot support her family with the wage she earns as support staff. If she didn’t have the support that she does from her parents, she would not be able to keep a roof over her head, or feed and clothe her children. As it stands, Lisa sits around 15% below the cost of living in Ontario. The reasonable offer that this government has proposed will have her sitting somewhere between 20% to 22% below the cost of living in four years. She does not want to strike, but she feels she has to in order to support her family.

The minister’s decision to invoke the “notwithstanding” clause impedes her right as a worker to negotiate a fair wage. Lisa would like to remind this government that on the playground, this is referred to as bullying, and she does not want to be bullied into an unfair contract.

Another Ontarian has expressed her frustrations over the difficult decision that she has been facing as guardian to a child with autism who was supposed to start school in September. She says that she fully supports education workers, but is terrified to send her child to a school with so few supports in place. She has been going back and forth on whether she should send him to school or not—a decision that no Ontarian should have to make. We owe it to our children to provide them with the resources they need for a successful school experience.

Jason, whom I mentioned earlier, has been grateful for the role of EAs in his children’s learning, but he’s seen first-hand the decline in availability of in-class EAs and resources. His children have suffered as a result of absent EAs because so many have left the field altogether due to burnout. In school, his middle child began to experience mild depression, anxiety and learning challenges. They’ve tried to work with the school administration to obtain additional support, but had very little luck because the school did not have adequate support for his child’s educational and mental health needs. Jason had no other choice but to find an alternate school for his son.

His youngest child, who is currently enrolled in middle school with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board, has also experienced a delayed response in obtaining adequate classroom support. There are no education support staff in his classroom, and only one resource teacher available to respond to his learning needs. There are hundreds of other children in this same position.

Now Jason’s family is paying out of pocket for external support to assist his children, and during a time when the cost of living is already so high, this added cost is cutting into his family’s grocery budget.

These parents and education workers are absolutely clear: If the government continues on this path of enforcing a low-wage policy and fundamentally disrespecting our education workers, it will be to the detriment of our children. Workers cannot continue in these conditions, and that means our kids will be forced to go without the caring adults and the fundamental supports they depend on.

Of course, this government is not the first government to attack our education system and the people who work there. They’re continuing a tradition set by the previous Liberal government, and that’s part of what has gotten us into this mess.

The Liberal government, supported by the Conservatives, passed Bill 115, trampling on the rights of education workers to collectively bargain—a charter-protected right, I might add—and imposing a collective agreement that froze workers’ wages.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently ruled that Bill 115 “substantially interfered” with collective bargaining rights of education workers. The passing of this unconstitutional legislation resulted in the province being ordered by a court to pay out hundreds of millions of dollars in order to remedy their trampling of fundamental rights. These remedies, of course, do not recoup the lost income, benefits and rights of education workers in Ontario, but they show how expensive trampling on the rights of Ontarians can be.

In 2014 the Liberals, apparently thinking this was a fun game to play with people’s lives, froze wages again for two years—four years, no wage increase.

Workers then had a couple of years of marginal wage increases, but in 2018, as we all know, the Conservatives came to power, and I guess they admired the Liberal approach so much that in 2019 they passed Bill 124, capping the wages of education workers once again.

So education workers have faced 10 years of consistent and sustained suppression and restraint on their wages from Liberals and Conservatives.

From 2012 to the end of 2021, wage increases for Ontario education workers have totalled only 8.8%. During that same period, total inflation was 19.5%. This means that these education workers, the lowest-paid education workers, took a 10.7% wage cut as a result of the government’s wage freezes since 2012.

And now, with inflation running at over 8%, with an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, this government has come to the bizarre conclusion that the lowest-paid education workers, who are already using food banks, are only worth a nickel an hour more.

Unfortunately, Speaker, we’ve seen this movie before. The government’s Bill 124 also imposed a wage cap on health care workers, showing them utter contempt and disrespect while they worked so hard each and every day of the past few years to keep us safe and healthy. We’re seeing the outcome of that wage policy, with health care workers leaving the profession in droves. They are burnt out, tired of being disrespected, frustrated that they can’t do the job that they love, the job that they want to do properly. And the result is that we have people waiting 12 to 20 hours in the emergency room, waiting 30 hours in the hospital to be admitted to a bed. We have pediatric ICUs that are life and limb only. We have cancelled and delayed surgeries and procedures, not because we don’t have the operating rooms but because we don’t have the nurses to staff them.

I guess the government looks at that outcome and thinks, “Job well done. Let’s try that with the education system next”—because that is what they are doing here. They are taking a system that is already starting to experience strain, and they are deliberately driving it closer to the brink.

In fact, this is straight out of the Conservative privatization playbook. First, you starve the public system of the funding it needs to do its job. Then you suppress workers’ wages so they are earning less than their private sector counterparts. You burn out the staff with your deliberate underinvestment. And then they start to leave their profession to find other jobs that pay more or are less stressful. And that trickle of departing workers eventually becomes a raging river, because as the government makes the system deliberately worse, the workers who are now paid less have to do more, but the more that their fellow workers leave, the more they have to do to make up for that gap, which feeds the cycle, until you’re faced with an inevitable crisis because of the actions of the government.

Then, when the public system finally starts to break at the seams because the workers are burnt out, the system that used to be world-class has now become a shadow of its former self. That’s when the Conservatives say, “How did this happen? No one could have predicted this result. The only way to solve this problem that we’ve caused is now to privatize the service.” And we know what privatized public services look like because they’ve done it before. It means poorer quality services. It means low wages. It means that people lose out to profit.

Now, let’s compare that playbook with what the Conservatives are proposing here and what this bill will actually mean for our education system and our kids. Legislating poverty wages will mean that school boards will be unable to recruit and retain staff. This will lead to staffing shortages and cuts to services for students. Cutting job security means that burnout will increase the amount of staff and only make the staffing and retention crisis even worse. No new funding for additional staff means there will be no improvement to services for children and that the quality of their education will deteriorate. It also means that already overworked education workers will now be expected to do even more unpaid work, which leads to further burnout and to more staff leaving the profession. No agreement that casual workers be paid the same as permanent employees will only worsen the problem of recruitment and retention—you might be detecting a theme here, Speaker. Not only is the government doing all of this, but they’re invoking the “notwithstanding” clause as they do it, acknowledging that they are trampling on charter-protected rights of Ontarians and flat-out admitting that they don’t care. Cross the Premier and he will take away your rights: That’s the message here.

The challenge we face as a province is clear: Is this a bill that will make our kids’ education better? No. In fact, it will lead to a staffing crisis similar to the one we’re experiencing in the health care sector. Will it provide students with more supports? No, because burnout and staffing cuts will lead to fewer supports and fewer opportunities for Ontario students, not more. And lastly, will it make sure every child gets access to a world-class public education? Absolutely not. In fact, it ensures that kids who need support the most will get the least.

The minister’s got three days, Speaker. The clock is ticking. CUPE is it at the table today. The minister should withdraw this shameful legislation and sit down at the bargaining table today with CUPE and negotiate a deal that will protect and strengthen our kids’ education and support these invaluable workers who support our kids every single day.

Through you, Mr. Speaker, I just want to ask the minister: As a parent, I got a lot of calls from other parents talking about how important it is to them for their children to be in school, but what I want to ask the minister is—this government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, has been working for workers. Now, when it comes to this legislation, what is your message to the labour leaders and the union, and what are you saying about the government’s commitment to the relationship with the labour leaders and unions?

Speaker, through you, it is horrendous that the average yearly salary for someone in this bargaining unit is $39,000, with that bench over there and that government over there giving themselves a raise of $16,000.

With inflation entering into double digits, what are you—

Interjections.

I’m asking the minister why it is they’re forcing these workers to go to food banks and work double jobs to be able to support food on their own tables.

I want to start by thanking the member for Ottawa West–Nepean, our education critic. It is hard to believe that she is a new member to this Legislature. She is so well-read and well-informed on this file and speaks so articulately to it that I have nothing but the utmost compliments to say to her on behalf of the caucus.

Speaker, today we’re here to discuss Bill 28, the Keeping Students in Class Act. The Conservative government is continuing their creative writing when it comes to bill names. I wanted to start off—yesterday, there was debate about us coming in this morning at 5 a.m. so that they can rush through this bill as quickly as possible. And the standing ovation the Conservatives gave themselves and the excitement that they had like it was Christmas morning—I’d like to remind the Conservative government that what you are rushing to do is trample on the rights of the lowest-paid workers in the education sector. What you’re rushing to do is to punish people who are forced into poverty because of your legislation, who are forced to use food banks because of your legislation. And, excitedly, you give yourselves standing ovations.

I know, Speaker, there are some on this bench that know what they’re doing is wrong and do not care. But there are some on this bench who, frankly, don’t know, and I’m trying to reach out to you as a colleague and a friend to explain to you that you are hurting your constituents, and—sorry, Speaker—that they are causing harm to their constituents, and also to remind them that there are children living in poverty in their ridings that they could make a difference on and choose not to.

Yesterday the education minister spoke about the value of children going to school to get proper nutrition. Beside the education minister was the Minister of Labour, who applauded, ignoring completely the fact that more full-time working families than ever are going to food banks, ignoring completely the fact that the reason there are breakfast programs in schools is because parents can’t put food on the table. They applaud like that’s normal, like it’s acceptable, like it’s something that the Conservative government shouldn’t be embarrassed about, that perhaps they should be champions and fix the problems that the Liberals created. They spent the last four years blaming the previous government, blaming and pointing the finger. Well, news for the Conservative government, Speaker, is that they are the previous government. And the old adage, “Liberal, Tory, same old story,” you’ve proven again and again and again.

I’m going to move forward to when they proved it again. Because this bill—very similar to Bill 124, very similar to Bill 115 that the Liberals brought in—is attacking the workers’ constitutional right to collective bargaining. I’m going to get back to that.

I want to get to what I wanted to mention this morning. I woke up at 5 a.m. this morning—or before 5 a.m.; I was actually up at about 2:30 this morning, because when it comes to speaking on behalf of workers, I am excited and I am wide awake. And I’ll tell you, I woke up this morning and I drove here in the rain, and when I walked around to the front, because the other exits are all closed this early in the morning, I felt bad for the staff that had to show up early. I felt bad for you, Speaker, who had to show up early, and the Clerks and the pages who had to show up early. But I couldn’t stop but think about Mr. Moore.

Mr. Moore was a school custodian. He worked there for more than 30 years, in Toronto. He took care of his school. He cleaned it. And being a custodian is not a glamourous job. I was a custodian in my twenties—not in a school, but people don’t make eye contact with you, they don’t look at you when you’re emptying the garbage, sweeping the floors and cleaning the bathrooms. Mr. Moore did this every single day with pride. He took care of the students. He showed up when he was sick because he knew how important it was. He showed up early when it was snowing to make sure there was salt on the ground. His wife stayed at home. Together they raised three children. And one of those children is my stepfather. And I know and value the importance of custodians like Mr. Moore because he raised a stepfather, and this stepfather, when I turned 16, helped to raise me.

So why are we here, Speaker? We’re here to debate a massively thick bill. Bill 28 imposes the central terms of a four-year collective agreement on CUPE educational support workers, the school support staff, including educational assistants, custodians, librarians and early educational workers. This act requires the termination of any strike or lockout and prohibits strikes or lockouts during the term of the collective agreement.

I’m going to quote Patty Coates from the Ontario Federation of Labour: This is a “full-frontal attack on free and fair collective bargaining in Ontario. It is an attempt to strip workers of their most powerful weapon: the right to strike, the right to withdraw labour. And it’s an attempt to strip the workers of this before they get a chance to use it.”

Looking around the room, Speaker, as all of us are wearing poppies, I am reminded that in Sudbury, on Friday, we raised the largest poppy flag in North America. They’re trying to find out if it’s the largest in the world. It’s something the city is very proud of. And all of us are wearing poppies. Next Friday, we’ll go to celebrations, memorials for Remembrance Day, and we will talk about our freedoms, and we will talk about the loss. I’ll remember Mr. Moore, who served. I’ll remember my father, Paul, who served; my grandfather George, who served. I’ll remember especially Paul and George because those are my middle names. And I’ll remember their comrades who didn’t come back when they fought for their freedoms.

I’m going to read you a section of the act. It’s from the explanatory note, and I want you to think about freedoms and poppies and sacrifices that people made while I read this:

“The act is declared to operate notwithstanding sections 2, 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the act will apply despite the Human Rights Code.

“The act limits the jurisdiction of the Ontario Labour Relations Board, arbitrators and other tribunals to make certain inquiries or decisions. It also provides for there to be no causes of action or proceedings against the crown for certain acts.”

I wanted to point that out because there’s an opinion from the Conservative government that unions and their right to collectively bargain wasn’t fought for, wasn’t earned. Unfortunately, Speaker, I don’t think the Minister of Labour knows the history of labour; I just don’t. I saw this previously when the Premier was legislating power workers back to work before they even had a strike. They didn’t understand, Speaker, that a strike vote just allows the union to show support; it doesn’t mean they’re going on strike. I had to explain it to them just before Christmas.

They don’t understand how the legislation works. They don’t understand that this was fought for—literally fought for—by people who died in the labour movement, spilled their blood for this in the labour movement. They either don’t know, or they know and don’t care. That is a theme with this Conservative government: They do not care about workers, they do not care about workers’ families and they most assuredly do not care about their children.

I’ve talked several times about Charity. In August, I asked the Premier to ensure that Charity can get a wage high enough that she didn’t have to go to food banks to feed her children. My compliments to Charity for allowing me to use her name, because I’ve heard this story from many workers who were too embarrassed to share their story, ashamed of where they work and the situation they’re in—the situation that was created by the Liberal government and the situation that’s been enhanced by this Conservative government.

I asked in August, and they refused. I asked again yesterday, and they refused. After that question, Charity reached out to me and said, “I’m honestly terrified. I just want to go grocery shopping. We deserve better than the food bank.” I agree; the government doesn’t agree. The Conservative government doesn’t care about Charity, they don’t care about Charity’s children. They don’t care that children in their communities have to go to food banks.

I can appreciate why they don’t want to make eye contact, Speaker, because if I felt that burden of shame, I wouldn’t make eye contact either. I do not know how they look anyone in their communities in the eye, how they look at their parents, grandparents, children or friends and say, “You know what we did? You know what we did since we formed government in the last election? We rushed back here and we attacked old people in hospitals and forced them into long-term care that they didn’t want to be in. Then we took a long break, because we can’t ever sit during an election. Then when we came back, we attacked the lowest-paid education support workers in the province—and we celebrated with rounds of standing ovations and high-fives.”

I want to propose something to you, Mr. Speaker: that the minister, although he spoke for an hour and spoke previously about this several times—I would like to encourage him, when you look at the size of the bill, to think that maybe all the effort in the bill, all the effort in the selfies, all the effort in the press conferences and the staging could have gone into negotiating. If you can muster the effort to get all of the MPPs here at 5 a.m., surely to God you can show up at a bargaining table and sit down and negotiate a fair contract.

Now, the government, when they speak about this contract, when they speak about their offer, what they use is lump sums. What they use is, “Well, if we do this, eventually it’s going to be this because everyone in the world is going to have to get it.” What they do is they talk about 11%. What they do is they confuse the issue. I want to bring the issue back to where it belongs. They’re talking about an offer between 33 cents and 55 cents. Now, one of these education support workers told me that for her wages, because they’re much lower than the average, it works out to a nickel an hour. This is another worker who is going to a food bank who doesn’t want me to use her name. What they are offering, Speaker, is a nickel an hour to somebody who eats at a food bank. What they’re saying is that if you don’t accept that, “Too bad, because we’ve changed the rules and you have to. Even though you belong to a union and you should have the right to collectively bargain, we’re taking it away before you can even withdraw your labour.” What the Conservatives are doing, and excitedly so, is legislating poverty for these workers. That is shameful.

The Conservative government, time and time again, likes to talk about how the cupboards are bare: “Oh, we have no money. We don’t have any money.” They quote the EQAO stats and ignore the fact that it was one of their failed candidates that they gave this plum job to. I can’t remember the exact number, but it’s about $140,000 a year. It used to cost about five grand a year and, quite honestly, I think anyone who really understands the EQAO would say that we should take that money and just reinvest it into the education system. It really isn’t doing anything besides helping real estate rates. But if the cupboards were bare, maybe they would continue the program for five grand and not have to reward one of their friends. If the cupboards were bare, where would they come up with $365 million as a catch-up amount?

I was watching interviews with this—because obviously we weren’t sitting here, Speaker, at the time. I was watching interviews, and they said, what would parents use the $200 for? The minister said they could buy textbooks—

Interjections.

The member for Sudbury.