To the member opposite: “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.”

I have stood in this House many times on the 11th day of November. It is November 1; we have 11 days to remember.

I brag about my son Petty Officer Jonathan Lindal, currently posted to the Naval Fleet School Atlantic as the senior combat information instructor teaching today’s naval tactics and doctrines to the future of the fleet. Over the past 18 years, he served on Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship for multiple overseas deployments.

My question to you is, will you honour and respect the Charter of Rights that my son, my grandfather, my great-grandfather fought for—to the 55,000 workers in CUPE. Will you respect that?

We’ll now go to questions.

What my friend opposite has proven to me is something that has disturbed me in the last four years working in this place. Unbeknownst to the people of Ontario, a gravy train has pulled up to this building and it has been helping members of this government and not the workers of Ontario.

I want to talk about the 43 government MPPs who got a $16,000 pay increase last July. That’s $132,000 a year they’re making, while constituents like Lisbeth Slabotsky write me to say, “The right to free and fair collective bargaining is a fundamental freedom protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” It is not good enough for workers of this province—but it’s great to ride the gravy train if you’re a member of the Ford government.

How do you feel riding on that gravy train, member?

I respect every person who serves because everybody gives back—a sacrifice for themselves.

What I will not say is, the Premier—we have been crystal clear to parents. Parents are frustrated. Children are impacted. Children need to be in class. They are suffering from—

Interjections.

Parents are frustrated. Students have been out of school for two years. We have heard all the data around mental health, we have heard all the data about social skills—and it’s important. We asked CUPE to rescind their plan to strike so that we would continue to negotiate, but they did not.

This legislation is important so we can keep students in school.

“The gravy train has rolled up”—you’re selling the story that we got a raise. It’s the same thing that you guys do—we all get the same. If you were on a committee, you would have gotten the same. If you were a parliamentary assistant, you would have gotten the same. It wasn’t a raise. We all know—both sides—that we’ve been frozen since 2014.

Let’s get back to the fact that students need to be in class—

Interjections.

We have additional students who are suffering from social and mental challenges from the pandemic.

I appreciate and understand that our education workers are being paid—we are offering a reasonable deal. We are ensuring the stability for students and parents through a four-year contract. We’re enabling the refocus of the education system on learning loss, mental health and physical health. We’re increasing CUPE education worker salaries by 2.5%. We are increasing education workers’ pension and benefits contributions by $6,120 annually. We’re continuing to strengthen the integrity of—

Stop the clock.

If we agreed to listen to each other, that would be appreciated.

Next question.

Stop the clock, please. Thank you.

Again, I will remind the members of two things. You need to address your comments to the Chair, whether it be your answer or your questions. And please keep the noise down so that we can hear each other. Thank you.

I’ll go to the next question.

We’re going to go to further debate.

My question is this: Could you describe the harm of a strike on our most vulnerable students right now—those requiring special education?

Thank you to the member from Ajax for her presentation.

Our government is committed to keeping students in class.

Can the member share with the House how this bill can help us keep students in class?

I’m glad to be able to address some comments to the member from Ajax. We both have the opportunity to represent Durham region, and I know that she comes from education, as a former trustee.

While she talked about learning experience in our schools, I would say that I don’t believe that this government does care about the learning experience of students or their mental health. When I’m standing here holding a bill that says it has declared to operate despite the Human Rights Code or the “notwithstanding” section of the Canadian Charter of Rights—I want to know which rights are the most important in this province, because these are rights. Collective bargaining is a right. The right to strike is a right. And this runs over those rights.

These are education workers fighting for improved working conditions. Their working conditions, which are increasingly violent and upsetting—which I know that this member has heard directly—are the learning conditions of students.

So why can’t we invest in education and support these education workers? And why the heck are we stripping away their human rights with this piece of legislation?

I want to ask the member—she was a trustee; she has come from the education system—if special education, as she mentioned, is so important and it harms the most vulnerable students to not have these educators in our classrooms, why are you harming vulnerable students by forcing their support system out of the workforce? You’re forcing these education workers, who are paid so poorly that they’re driven out of the province or they’re driven to other jobs, to find enough to make a good living.

I actually got a message this morning from one worker who told me that she slept in her car between shifts at school and her other job because they cannot make enough and do the jobs that they need to do.

These are the people you’re hurting. These are the people you’re driving out of their jobs. And as a result, what happens? The vulnerable students are the ones who are getting harmed. How do you justify that?

Yes.

I just want to ask a question to all my colleagues: Who’s on strike today?

Interjection: Nobody.

I want to tell my colleagues across the row, who are reading the paper and playing with their phones and doing everything else but listening, that 98% of every collective agreement in the province of Ontario is settled without a strike.

I think CUPE is at the Sheraton right now, and they’re saying to this government, “Come and bargain with us.”

My colleague talked a little bit about collective bargaining earlier this morning, and he said, because he has bargained, “I’ve done 150 collective agreements, and most are done in the last few hours, quite frankly. That’s when the movement starts.”

You guys don’t care, because what this is about—it isn’t about the kids, and if anybody thinks it is, they’re wrong. This is about busting the unions. It started with Bill 124, when you attacked their collective agreements, when you made sure they couldn’t take vacation and they couldn’t use seniority. That’s what this is about.

You guys were all happy you had a surplus—$2.1 billion, announced last week. Why didn’t you take that surplus and put it into education? Why didn’t you put it into wages? Why didn’t you put it into health care? Why didn’t you put it into long-term care, when 5,000 of our seniors have died in long-term care? Why didn’t you take that $2.1 billion and put it where it needs to go and get back to the bargaining table and take care of these workers?

Do you know why we’re so passionate over here? Do you know why the member from Sudbury was passionate about it? He grew up in poverty, and so did Wayne Gates. We don’t think anybody should live in poverty in the richest province in Canada, Ontario.

Our food banks are overflowing with workers who are working full-time jobs, working two and three jobs when housing prices are through the roof, gas is through the roof, food is through the roof and—

I want to finish up about the minister. It’s disgraceful that he stood up. When he stands in this House over and over again and says they’re working for workers—do you think this is working for workers?

I’m going to be sharing my time with the member from London West and the member from Niagara Falls.

There have been a lot of interesting comments on what happened at the negotiations table, beginning with the Minister of Education’s academy performance earlier this morning.

Yesterday, Kory Teneycke, the Conservative strategist, was on CBC’s Power and Politics. He warned teachers that the government is ready to legislate them back to work like it has with CUPE education workers. He went on to say, “You can take that to the bank. Because it’s going to happen.” That’s how this government negotiates—not in good faith.

And the rhetoric from this Minister of Education and the rhetoric from the Premier himself on the relationship and the negotiations with education workers has been so demoralizing for the very people who are in that sector.

I want to give the other side of the story. There was an interview yesterday with Laura Walton, the president of OSBCU. This is the other side:

“Laura Walton had insisted just minutes prior that a negotiated deal was still possible before Friday.

“‘Negotiations aren’t done,’ said Walton. ‘This is a piece of legislation that was just proposed. It hasn’t been passed. It’s just a piece of paper that has been received at Queen’s Park.’

“Walton also told reporters the union was planning to make concessions on its wage increase demands and present that counter-offer to the province today”—but this is what happened.

“‘We are working on it today,’ said Walton in response to a question from Queen’s Park Today. ‘We are going to be moving down, but we’re not moving to where’” they want us to go, which is five cents every hour. That was the five-cents-per-hour increase. They’re asking for a 33-cents-per-hour increase—I don’t know where the government members are getting a 50% increase in the contractual agreements. Get away from your speaking notes.

“When asked if the government would refuse to hear the union’s new offer, Lecce said he wasn’t aware....

“‘They had an opportunity to present to the government a counter-proposal they may or may not introduce’....

“The meeting on Sunday was held at the province’s request. According to Walton, the union received the request to meet early in the morning but didn’t realize until the afternoon that the government wanted to present a new offer.” They had trouble pulling everybody together.

“Walton said the province’s negotiators told her side to either take it or leave it.

“‘When we got there, we were informed that this would be legislated. That is not bargaining. That is an ultimatum,’ said Walton. ‘What they did is give us a piece of legislation that gives an extra nickel to workers ... and they walked away’....

“The Canadian Civil Liberties Association condemned the PC’s use of the notwithstanding clause in Bill 28, saying it was never meant to be used as a tool in contract negotiations.” These are facts.

“‘This misuse, and the flagrant disregard for individual rights is wrong and it is dangerous to our constitutional democracy’....” That is true.

“Soon after Bill 28 was tabled in the Legislature,” ETFO, in solidarity with CUPE, walked out as well.

So this is all very premeditated. This government and this Minister of Education never really wanted a deal with CUPE.

I want to just tell the members of the government side how demoralizing this is for the people who spend every day with kids.

This is from a Waterloo Region District School Board secondary school teacher. He said, “In the private sector, if you had a director that utterly destroyed the morale of all their employees, they would be fired, period, because it’s bad for business.” That’s what the education minister has done, but the Conservatives give the education minister a standing ovation?

And to see the Minister of Labour get a standing ovation on a piece of legislation which tramples worker rights—I’ve never seen that kind of—I don’t even have words for it. It’s as low as you can go. The role of the Minister of Labour is to uphold the rights of workers and not trample them.

This educator went on to say, “If the goal this time around is not just to create a crisis in public education, like Mr. Harris did, but to dismantle it by targeting the very people that make it work, if the minister’s goal is to destroy public education in favour of his beloved private schools, then I guess that’s why his colleagues are clapping.” That’s what educators are coming at us with.

“History has taught us that all evil starts with small steps. This legislation will be remembered as a major leap towards dismantling a public education system that has served this province so well for so many decades, and when that happens, the clapping will stop, just as it has for so many dictators throughout history.”

So this is from people who are watching what is happening here in this House, and the lack of transparency is truly upsetting.

I wrote to the Premier yesterday and I said, “Without transparency, it’s impossible to show that there’s accountability. And without knowing there’s accountability, there can be no trust.”

We need to see the mandate letters from this government. When the privacy commissioner told you to release the mandate letters, which they have done, you appealed to the Divisional Court. And when the Divisional Court told you to release the mandate letters, you went to the Ontario Court of Appeal. And when the Court of Appeal told you the same thing, you appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the case is still pending, four years after the initial freedom-of-information ask. The mandate letters will obviously shed some light on what the true motivation of the government is.

But actions speak louder than anything, and what we have seen from this government is an intentional and mindful undermining of public education—and by this piece of legislation, what a dangerous road we’re going down.

The member for Niagara Falls.

I’m sorry; I’m going to interrupt the member. I’m going to insist that you make your comments through the Chair and not across the aisle, please, if that’s possible.

That’s the problem over there: You actually think it is. But do you know what the minister has tonight? Do you know what he has tonight, through the Chair? There is a rally tonight of CUPE workers, sponsored by the Ontario federation, which represents one million workers who you never talked to once on this bill—not once. You never give them a heads-up on what you’re trying to do.

But do you know where the minister is going to be? He’s going to be right beside the rally. He’s not going to be at the rally, by the way, like you’d think the Minister of Labour would be. Do you know where he’s going to be? He’s got a $1,000-a-plate dinner tonight, when he’s standing up applauding that they’re attacking workers—$1,000 a plate.

Interjections.

That’s what I wanted, and do you know what? Every single one of those CUPE workers—do you know what they want? They want a fair collective agreement, a negotiated collective agreement. I’m encouraging this government to get back to the bargaining table, to get to the Sheraton. CUPE is waiting for you. Don’t bring in a bill that’s a hundred pages, because what that tells me, through the Speaker, is that it’s very clear what they were thinking. This was planned, because it’s an attack against the union. It’s an attack against workers in the province of Ontario.

Do you know what workers should do in this province? I’m going to say it: We need to come together as workers and say to this government that if you take on one worker in the province of Ontario, then you’re going to take us all on, because an injury to one is an injury to all. Thank you very much—and come to your senses at some point in time.

I rise today to join the debate on Bill 28, legislation that follows a long line of anti-worker bills that this government has brought forward. We saw that in their first term of office, when they introduced Bill 124, when they did a complete override of collective agreements with the emergency orders, so in some ways this legislation is not all that surprising.

What is concerning, however, about Bill 28 compared to those previous acts of this government, is its unprecedented use of the “notwithstanding” clause and the override of the human rights protections that are included in the Human Rights Code. This is the first use in Canada of the “notwithstanding” clause to suppress constitutionally protected charter rights. The courts have been very clear that freedom of association includes the right to fair and free collective bargaining, as well as the right to strike. This government removes those constitutionally protected charter rights and will engage this government for years in court fights about the government’s use of these provisions.

Just last week in this place, we eulogized Bill Davis, who was a part of the group who repatriated the Constitution. Bill Davis brokered the deal that brought us the “notwithstanding” clause, and he was very, very clear that it was to be used very, very sparingly, and it was to be used to provide new benefits for disadvantaged or marginalized populations, not to use the heavy sledgehammer of legislation during collective bargaining.

As my other colleagues have mentioned, it is clear that this bill took some time for the government to write. This was not a bill that came off a word processor in a couple of days. They have been working on this bill for months—for months, Speaker—as CUPE members have been sitting at the table waiting for the government to negotiate in good faith.

And who are these CUPE workers? They are education assistants; they are early childhood educators; they are custodians; they are school secretaries. They are the backbone of our education system and they are the lowest-paid workers in our education system, and so low paid, in fact, Speaker, that many are relying on food banks, as we have pointed out time after time. There was a survey that CUPE undertook of its members which found that half of CUPE members struggle to pay their bills each month. The paycheque won’t cover basic necessities of food, of utilities, of transportation. They’re not getting a sufficient salary to meet those financial obligations that they have to feed their families and maintain some semblance of a quality of life. One quarter of CUPE members said they couldn’t afford gas or public transportation on the wages that they were being paid. More than two thirds of CUPE members said they had to stop setting aside money for savings because there was no money to put aside at the end of the month.

So these are not workers who are being well compensated and are asking for unreasonable wage increases. They are workers who are asking to be paid what they are worth. And we saw during the pandemic how very crucial these workers are to the health and safety, to the academic success, to the well-being of children in this province. Do children matter to this government? Does it matter to this government that there are caring adults in our school system who are able to support kids in schools?

This government talks about the fact that they want to bring stability and end disruption in our school system, but if they watched what happened after Bill 115 under the Liberals, when a collective agreement was imposed on education workers, the aftermath of that legislative action lasted years, Speaker. I was one of those trustees who was there at the time of Bill 115. I saw the complete demoralization of education workers across the education system. I saw parent frustration higher than it had ever been because of the dismal atmosphere in our schools. We saw students who were losing opportunities that they needed to engage in education and be successful and go on. That is the legacy that this government is going to be bringing to public education with this action.

There is speculation that maybe this is all part of the government’s plan to privatize more and more of our public services, and that the direct payments to parents that have been flowing out during this pandemic and the $345-million catch-up payments to parents is all part of a backhand way of privatizing public services. The government says that parents should be trying to chase down tutors to help their kids in school, but parents are saying that they know that what will help kids in school is having early childhood educators; it’s having educational assistants; it’s having custodians; it’s having school secretaries who are compensated appropriately and there to support their kids.

I just wanted to read a couple of emails that I have received from parents. One parent wrote to me, “The lack of support for educational staff is callous and unforgivable. I have two primary school-aged children and frankly no amount of mental health support can prepare us for yet another year of disruptions and virtual school. The kids need to be in school, and educational staff need to be adequately compensated.”

Another parent, with two elementary school-aged children, says, “If a strike is necessary for these workers to be treated fairly their right to strike should absolutely not be taken away! Our children have had a lot of disruptions these last few years but we cannot agree with the idea of the government taking away the right to strike. It shows us that the government is not working to bargain in good faith.”

I implore this government—there are several days left before November 4—withdraw this bill, get back to the bargaining table, talk to CUPE workers, negotiate a fair deal, give our kids the supports that they need in our classrooms and help preserve quality public education in Ontario.

Order, please.

If there has been one thing that has become abundantly clear over the hours of debate—almost five as of right now—it’s that every provincial government does its battles with education unions, period. If we go back in time to when the opposition was in power in the 1990s, they actually put across a bill that left everyone at zero, froze salaries and required teachers and everyone else to take 12 unpaid days off a year.

When the independent Liberals were in power, most recently in 2012—and the NDP held the balance of power, even though they may not have supported Bill 115—education workers saw a 0% increase.

My question to the member from London West: Is a 2.5% increase—10% over four years—a better deal than what the opposition parties have offered?

Thank you very much for the question—very timely. Clearly the money is there, which is why we have called into question the motivation of this government with regard to Bill 28. There is no need to bring forward this piece of legislation, which has obviously been in the works for months now, because you just don’t pull a piece of legislation out of thin air like this.

And it’s very true: The FAO, an independent officer of the Legislature, has said that the government will have run a surplus of $25.3 billion over the next six years, that there is an unallocated contingency fund of $44 billion. This is money that the government did not spend on keeping classrooms safe during the pandemic. This is federal transfer money that the government squirrelled away.

I was actually asked this question last week. I want to say to the government, that money needs to go to public services. There is no reason for this standoff to be happening with education workers—or health care workers, for that matter. You need to repeal Bill 124 and pay the people who do public services in this province adequate salaries and show them some damned respect.

Shame on all of you.

My question is to the member for Waterloo. Last month, the Minister of Finance actually announced that the Ontario government ended the fiscal year with a $2.1-billion surplus, a far cry from the $33-billion deficit that was projected. Following shortly afterwards on October 27, the FAO then criticized the Conservative government for not being transparent of how they were going to spend the money over the next several years. Then they revealed that there’s a $44-billion unallocated contingency fund and about $40 billion in programs unspent. The FAO says the contingencies are not generally used to address these shortfalls.

My question, Speaker, to the member is: If the provincial cupboards are bare, as claimed by the Ford Conservative government, why are they misleading Ontarians with the austerity budget and punishing education workers with legislated poverty by taking away their collective bargaining rights and disrupting human rights?