Minister of Education.

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?

We’re committed to keeping kids in the classroom, where they belong. We think that is the priority of all parents in this province, who have seen the hardship, the disruption and the regression in learning, in mental and physical health, and social and emotional well-being. We have to stand up for these kids and give them a voice in this debate. They have been on the sidelines for too long. Strikes have been imposed on them for over 30 to 40 years. I think it’s absolutely appropriate for the government to use every tool at our disposal to ensure stability and to protect the in-class learning experience these kids deserve in Ontario.

Interjection.

Mr. Speaker, I will note to the member opposite that of education workers in this country, here in Ontario they are paid the highest: $27 an hour. They have benefits. They have the best pension. They have 131 paid sick days, part of their sick leave. And as you know, Speaker, we continue to provide more investment in schools, more staffing—part of this contract has proposed 1,800 more workers—to ensure our kids are better supported.

What we will not accept is the idea of children being out of class for even one more day. They have paid the price of this pandemic, and we have a responsibility to ensure they stay in school in front of their educators, learning the skills they need to succeed in this economy.

We believe, in our judgment, that kids should be in school. They should be in a stable, safe environment, supported by their staff and with their friends. That’s why, Speaker, we’ve increased investment in public education. It’s why we’ve offered a better deal, with 10% over four years while maintaining those benefits and pensions I spoke of earlier.

We are doing this because we want to get to a deal. It requires the union to withdraw the strike. It requires the union to bring forth a reasonable offer, not a nearly 33% increase in salary, nearly 50% increase in compensation when you add it all up. That is not reasonable to any observer.

We’re going to continue to work hard and stand up for kids and keep them in schools, Speaker.

My question is for the Minister of Infrastructure.

Speaker, communities across eastern Ontario have been ignored for far too long under the previous Liberal government when it came to providing access to reliable, high-speed Internet.

As a former IT guy and a former member of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, I am very aware of both the need and the efforts the local people have put into accessing broadband.

Residents and businesses rely on reliable Internet systems for their day-to-day work, for children to learn and for residents to communicate with people across the world, among many other things. For those in remote and rural communities, the continued lack of reliable Internet services prevents many from achieving their full economic potential.

Our government recently made an announcement highlighting the investments made in high-speed Internet infrastructure.

Can the Minister of Infrastructure please update the Legislature on how our government is closing the digital divide for all Ontarians, no matter where they live?

This question is to the Premier. The Conservative government introduced back-to-work legislation that disregards the value of 55,000 CUPE front-line education workers in our schools, many of them the lowest-paid workers in education, who are disproportionately women and BIPOC people. This government legislation blocks workers’ bargaining rights, and charter and human rights. These are workers who make an average of $39,000 a year as custodians, bus drivers, librarians, education assistants supporting students with disabilities and behaviourals, lunchroom supervisors, hall monitors and early childhood educators. They’re also parents.

My question is to the Premier. The Premier’s salary is over $208,000 a year. The Minister of Education’s is over $165,000 a year. Their salaries keep going up despite inflation. Why do the Premier and the minister think their work is five times more valuable than education workers caring for Ontario’s children in our schools? Why are PCs paying education workers below inflation?

This pre-emptive strike legislation, similar to Conservative Bill 124 that produced a mass exodus of nurses from health care, will push education workers out the door, never to return. You cannot keep students in class without the caring adults, the education workers, who are the backbone of our education system, helping them every step of the way.

My question is back to the Premier; it’s nice to see you today. Will you stop this attack on education workers, get back to the bargaining table and honour our students, our future leaders, and education workers with a fair deal? That $39,000 is not enough.

Thank you.

The next question.

To reply, the Minster of Education.

Start the clock. The member for Guelph.

My question is to the Premier.

Yesterday, this Premier and his government decided to take away the bargaining rights of education workers who are amongst some of the lowest-paid unionized workers in Ontario. My office spoke with an education worker who called this action undemocratic and unfair.

Why are the Premier and his government refusing to respect workers’ rights and bargain a fair collective agreement?

Investing in our educational workers means investing in our children’s futures, because without them, our children are set up for failure. The education workers who are being disrespected by this government are the same workers who keep our schools clean and functioning properly. They need an environment that is safe, and without them, that can’t happen.

Why does this Premier think that it’s not important to invest in our children’s futures?

This is great news for families and businesses across eastern Ontario.

Access to reliable Internet should be a necessity, not a luxury. Unfortunately, this is still not the case for many Ontario families, including many of my constituents.

As the minister previously noted, our government has a plan to bring high-speed broadband access to every Ontarian by 2025.

Can the Minister of Infrastructure please explain how our government plans to close this gap and achieve the goal of 100% connectivity for all Ontarians, especially those in rural Ontario?

My question is for the Minister of Long-Term Care.

For years, the Liberal government, propped up by the NDP, neglected our seniors living in long-term care. The Liberals received countless reports, including the Sharkey report, which called for increased direct care hours for residents. Despite this, between 2009 and 2018, they only increased care by an average of two minutes per year, leaving our seniors well below the recommended four hours of daily care.

Speaker, what is our government doing to improve care for seniors?

Thank you to the member from Hastings–Lennox and Addington for the question.

We are allocating $4 billion to connect every Ontarian to high-speed Internet by the end of 2025.

Last week, my parliamentary assistant, the member from Brampton West, joined the federal government to announce an investment of $56 million towards high-speed Internet connectivity in eastern Ontario. Powered by Bell and Cogeco, these three projects will bring access to Birds Creek, Buckhorn and Bobcaygeon. Bell’s projects are set to be completed by December 2025, and Cogeco’s project is set to be completed by March 2024.

This investment in high-speed Internet means that 16,000 homes will now have access.

The member is correct; our government has made a commitment to bring high-speed Internet access to every Ontarian by the end of 2025. We have already invested over $950 million towards nearly 190 high-speed Internet projects that have connected roughly 375,000 homes and businesses, which also include premises in eastern Ontario.

This summer, we announced the eight successful Internet service providers from the reverse auction process. These eight ISPs are bringing access to up to 266,000 underserved and unserved homes and businesses within 339 municipalities.

We are now focusing on our last-mile strategy to close the digital divide, and we have 40,000 to 60,000 premises to go. We are almost there. Our government will get the job done.

I’m always happy to talk about our plans to stay open. It is a very important tenet of how we are making sure that our hospitals, our long-term care and our community care are working at full capacity so that they can look after the individuals who need help, where they need it, when they need it. We have worked very well with the College of Nurses of Ontario. In fact, we have over 1,000 new internationally educated RNs who are licensed and practising in the province of Ontario because of the changes our government has made.

The member opposite is right on one point, and that is that this file was ignored for far too long. We have Auditor General reports saying that we had a shortage of family physicians in northern Ontario. Did the government of the day do anything? No. It took Premier Ford, it took this government, to act and make the changes needed to make sure that our health care system is protected.

We have, with our plan to stay open, added over 6,000 more health care workers, including nurses and personal support workers, to Ontario’s health resource workforce. We will free up 2,500 hospital beds so that care is there for those who need it. And we will expand models of care that provide better, more appropriate care to avoid unnecessary visits to emergency departments.

There is no doubt that our government is seized with this issue—it is happening internationally across other countries, across Canadian jurisdictions—to make sure that we have sufficient health human resources. We’re doing the work here in Ontario to make sure that people who want to practise and work in the health care system have that opportunity here in Ontario.

My question is for the Minister of Health.

As we know, Ontario’s health care system is in crisis. To be fair, health care has been in disaster mode for a long time, but you are the government of the day and it’s up to you to fix it.

Speaker, this government must restore respect by scrapping Bill 124, a bill that continues to gut our system of nurses. It’s time to clean up surgical backlogs by setting up stand-alone centres. I’ve spoken to many retired nurses who believe that returning to a two-year college nursing program would get more people on the front lines faster. That’s part of a plan, and yet all I hear and see from this government on this file is tinkering.

Health care workers have lost faith in their profession and have left. They continue to leave, and others have been sidelined. I haven’t seen any action with respect to enticing health care workers back to the front lines.

As we watch Ontario’s hospitals bleed out, what does the minister have to say to those who have lost faith or who have been forced to watch from the sidelines?

On Sunday night, one of my local hospitals, Norfolk General, issued a statement that effective immediately, services in the emergency department would be temporarily reduced. This is a staffing issue, and we’re just at the beginning of cold and flu season. The release issued by the hospital said, “This temporary reduction in hours is necessary and is beyond the control of the hospital and the physicians in the community.” This means the buck stops with the minister, with this government.

Over the past 36 hours, my constituents have been reaching out to me. They are worried that they are going to see more of these reductions in the coming weeks and months.

Will the minister stand up today and tell every qualified health care worker that she will do everything possible to get them all back to work in Haldimand–Norfolk and in all hospitals across Ontario to avoid further reductions and shutdowns?

We respect our workers, which is why we’re increasing their pay every year over the course of this contract—10% over four years—and maintaining benefits, sick leave and, of course, pensions, the gold standard in Canada. They are paid the highest in Canada, $27 an hour on average. We’re increasing their pay. We’ll continue to do so because we know they play a critical role in our schools.

Part of our program is to hire 1,800 more education workers and roughly 800 to 900 more teachers. That’s what we’re doing because we know education quality is paramount and we know learning loss is real. We’ve expanded tutoring—$175 million. We’ve hired more staff. We’ve expanded training.

None of this really matters unless these kids are in class. That’s why we brought forward this legislation. Really, it’s a last resort to ensure kids have the stability they deserve.

The member opposite suggested there’s another way. Yes, of course, the government could have—as the New Democrats have, I guess, officially tabled as their position—not introduced legislation, hoped for the best on Thursday, and if the government of the day didn’t acquiesce to a nearly 50% increase in compensation, there would have been a strike on Friday. How is that good for kids, for parents and for the communities that depend on our publicly funded schools?

We have done this as a last resort because, regrettably, the union wouldn’t withdraw the strike for Friday, and we don’t believe kids should be out of school. We believe these children have been through enough. Enough is enough. Parents know this to be true. We’re standing up to provide the stability every child in the province deserves.

Thank you very much to the member opposite from Cambridge for that question.

I want to share with you, Speaker, that through the leadership of Premier Ford and the commitment of our government, some of the most advanced agri-food research around the world is happening right here in Ontario. We are investing in research stations positioned strategically throughout the province, like in Emo, in northwestern Ontario, where they’re seeing if a crop of hops can grow. We have research stations that farmers and government alike are partnering on, like we have in Elora. We also are investing $7 million in over 50 Ontario-led research projects facilitated through institutions like the University of Guelph, focused on environmental stewardship, animal and plant health, as well as rural economic development.

We have greenhouse growers developing initiatives that are going to see net-zero energy greenhouses. We’re putting digital soil-mapping into the hands of farmers. And, Speaker, we are also bringing agri-tech forward with the adoption of new innovations, automation and robotics.

But, again, Speaker, under the vision of Premier Ford, doors for new, innovative, made-in-Ontario solutions have been opened. And I’m pleased to share with you an example that really has hit home, because we’re wanting to inspire and invite and incentivize companies to invest in Ontario for Ontario-led solutions, like the fertilizer challenge that we opened up. We’re inviting people to bring forward ideas to introduce new opportunities for fertilizer that has been made right here in Ontario.

When we come up with alternatives like fertilizer solutions right here in this province of Ontario, our farmers will be the early adopters. And what does that generate? It generates consumer confidence in their food source—nutritious, delicious, grown right here, close at home.

Speaker, in closing, I want to share with you that it is our government that’s standing shoulder to shoulder with our farmers, with our food processors and with our innovators to make sure we’re leading-edge and everyone—

Thank you to the member for responding.

Our government recently announced the Hiring More Nurse Practitioners for Long-Term Care program. The announcement noted that our government would commit $57 million over three years to recruit and retain up to 225 additional nurse practitioners for the long-term-care sector.

Can the minister explain the role of nurse practitioners and how this will impact the operation of long-term-care homes across the province? Further, can the minister elaborate further on what support we’ll provide to remote and rural communities with less access to health care workers?

Speaker, I am pleased to welcome the Egg Farmers of Ontario, who have joined us here today. Because of the sacrifice and hard work of nearly 500 egg farm families in Ontario, they provide up to half the eggs sold in Canada—an amazing feat.

Our agri-food sector is a vital industry for our province and for the country’s economic future. Unfortunately, many of these farmers require more support due to the need for greater access to ag technology. For Ontario farmers to grow and become more efficient, they need a provincial government that understands the value of investing in agri-tech innovation.

Speaker, can the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs please tell the House about the targeted investments our government is making to get the latest ag technology into the hands of our farmers?

There is no denying that this has been a challenging year for farmers. Global supply chains have been disrupted and continue to impact the inputs they rely on.

Can the minister please tell the House how our government supports innovation and solutions to strengthen agri-food supply chains through this new technology?

My question is to the Premier.

Education workers are early childhood educators and educational assistants, custodians and administrators. Schools literally wouldn’t function without them. Tens of thousands of women and men who do these jobs every day are the lowest-paid workers in our education system. They show up every day and work hard so our children can have the best education possible.

The Premier always talks about being there for the little guy. He talks about how he’s always working for workers. My question is, how about putting all of that talk into action?

We know what will happen after this government imposes contracts on education workers. They will be taken to court, which they will fight with tax dollars, and then they will lose and have to pay huge penalties. That’s not fiscally responsible.

Why is the Premier wasting tax dollars in the courts instead of paying education workers what they are worth?

The member for Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston and parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Long-Term Care.

Mr. Speaker, we are acting to keep kids in school. That’s why we brought forth a bill today to do that in response to CUPE’s decision to strike on Friday, which we think is really regrettable and, frankly, unfair to these kids, who have been through so much difficulty.

We do agree with the member that we value these workers. It’s why, in this contract, we’re suggesting and proposing up to 10% over four years in increase to their pay and benefits, and maintaining their pension program and 131 days of sick leave. We’ve done this deliberately because we recognize the critical role they play in our schools.

We’re going to be hiring 1,800 more education workers and up to 1,800 more teachers in our schools to support our kids.

While we increase funding and increase staffing in our schools, the first principle of helping these kids catch up, really, is that they’ve got to be in school, Friday and every day. That’s why we brought this bill in reaction to CUPE’s decision to strike, and we hope they will withdraw this needless and unfair strike on children and return to work with government to get a better deal, a better way that respects all players but keeps these kids in the classroom.

Interjection: Online.

Mr. Speaker, we want to see none of that transpire. We want these kids to stay in school, to stay calm and focused on learning, and to not be impacted by needless disruption, when one puts their own interest ahead of the collective interest of kids.

We are going to fight hard to keep kids in school, and we hope the members opposite will join us in supporting stability for all children in the province of Ontario.