Speaker, I thank you for the valuable opportunity to stand in this House and address the assembly on this important day and to discuss the Keeping Students in Class Act, 2022.

I would like to begin by stating something which goes without saying: The COVID-19 pandemic brought about some of the most difficult times for many Ontarians, but especially for Ontario’s students. During these unprecedented times, many parents expressed struggles and frustrations about their children’s well-being. I know that many parents were challenged to balance the demands of what it meant to be a parent, which included finding a difficult work-life balance and ensuring their children’s mental health, academic and social progress would continue to develop.

While students displayed incredible resilience and flexibility, I also know that the pivot to full-time online learning came with its unique challenges for many Ontario students. For the last two years, remote learning played an important role in the delivery of education, but the pandemic also demonstrated its limitations.

It is time for students to continue their education in person, supported by many benefits only found in schools, all of which positively contribute to their academic, social and physical growth.

As a parent and a long-time education champion advocating for parents and students in Ontario schools, I stand today to firmly express that our children must remain in class for the rest of the school year in a normal, stable learning environment. Therefore, any learning disruption in schools will not tolerated by the government.

I recently ran into a mother who gave birth last year while two of her older kids were learning virtually. Everyone knows it’s a hard job being a parent. It comes with great responsibility and the balancing of competing challenges. The additional stress placed on parents and caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic caused many negative effects, including emotional and physical isolation that prohibited their children from cultivating essential skills that are necessary for their overall development.

As an immigrant from Jamaica who came to Ontario as a teenager, I also know how difficult the last two years have been for newcomer parents and children. Moving into a new environment is challenging on its own merit, but, coupled with COVID-19, can intensify the isolation and desperation for community and resources.

I know of newcomer students and parents who moved to Ontario right before the COVID-19 lockdowns, and the pivot to remote learning was isolating and caused depression. For these newcomer students, this September is their very first time to be in school, learning, in Canada. During the last two years, they didn’t have many opportunities to get connected and to feel supported. Newcomer students have eagerly been waiting for the day they can make friends and join social clubs at their schools to better help themselves integrate and succeed in Ontario.

Speaker, the possibility of strikes is stealing the stability and normalcy newcomer students have been looking towards.

I would like to outline why our government is fighting so hard to keep students in class and why we will continue to support Ontario parents. I will elaborate further in the coming minutes, but to put it simply, we believe what is best for students is to be surrounded by available academic, mental and physical resources only accessible in schools.

Before I delve further into why students must remain in school for in-person learning right through to the month of June, I’d like to acknowledge and admire the inspiring resilience and flexibility many students displayed amid the learning disruptions caused by COVID-19. The strength students showed is nothing short of remarkable. Speaker, I would like to take this chance to appreciate and thank them, as they worked hard to mitigate the academic, social and economic implications of the pandemic. I’ve spoken to students who have talked about missing two years, of wanting to go back and relive, especially, the social pieces around graduations, proms and many after-school sports.

In my inaugural speech, I spoke of a high school student in Ajax whose entire high school career was marked by disruption, until this past September 2022. For the last two years, he’s longed for and dreamt about a return to a normal and stable school year. His dream is now being threatened once again.

I would like to ask everyone to imagine being a high school student without ever experiencing a normal and stable school year. Can you see why students want to remain in school for in-person learning, where they not only have access to academic supports but also ample opportunities to socialize and to learn from their peers?

Thanks to our government, under Premier Ford, the student I’m speaking of has now been given a glimpse of a normal, stable school year, and he wants to continue. But the possibility of learning disruptions is making him anxious. This emotional stress of once again not being in school will affect not only his studies but his overall well-being.

Various experts, such as the Children’s Health Coalition and the Chief Medical Officer of Health, have indicated that in-person learning is critical to a student’s ability to succeed academically.

Speaker, in-person learning also creates a stable learning environment for students to access additional physical and mental health supports. But it does so much more. Students are able to connect with their peers, which enhances their social skills. We have heard that there are students who are really struggling with this right now.

Our government has established many supports that students need to succeed in their studies. We have provided tangible supports and additional funding to schools to protect the safety of students, changed the curriculum to best fit our student population and future careers, and continued to support parents with direct financial support in uncertain economic times.

The most recent EQAO assessments showed a global decline in every subject except grade 6 reading. Grade 3 students experienced a four-point decline in reading, a seven-point decline in writing, and a small drop in math—Grade 6 students saw a further three-point. Grade 9 followed the same trend, with math scores dropping 23 points for English-language students and 25 points for French-language students. That is a real problem—and that’s even more profound for French-language students, who saw a 33% drop. Our government is committed to improving these scores.

Our government is investing in foundational learning supports in reading and math. To support learning recovery, $25 million is being invested in evidence-based reading programs and professional assessments. We are placing a special emphasis on math recovery and literacy strategies, building on our government’s previous investments to ensure Ontario students have the support they need to succeed.

We are also looking to expand on previous investments for our four-year math strategy, investing $50 million for the 2022-23 year to ensure students have the necessary supports they need to succeed and improve their math performance. Our government is going further by providing more digital math resources, accessible by students for additional review and practice. This includes elementary math course packs provided by TVO and TFO as well as the newly destreamed grade 9 math course.

We are continuing to modernize our curriculum to best reflect Ontario’s student population and their future careers. Ontario’s new math curriculum for grades 1 to 9 focuses on fundamental math skills, practical examples, and new mandatory learning on coding, data literacy and financial literacy.

Our government is establishing math leads in every school board as well as providing school-based math coaches. We believe in supporting teachers to do what they love to do, which is to educate Ontario students, so we are providing teacher-training initiatives that teachers have access to 24/7. Over 140 school-based math coaches in over 700 targeted schools will provide training directly to teachers in classrooms. To date, over 5,000 teachers have completed additional qualifications in math through these investments, and up to an additional 4,000 will be taking these qualifications this year. And the Ministry of Education will work directly with school boards through a new math action team that will have expertise in promoting the use of high-impact math teaching practices in Ontario classrooms.

We believe in setting students up for success. This also means creating pathways for the skilled trades. Our government, under Premier Ford, will continue our focus on science, technology and math—STEM—education to build critical life and job skills so students can graduate with well-paying jobs. For the past four years, this government has placed a critical emphasis on STEM studies in our classrooms. These subjects contain not only the keys to many successful futures for our children, but they also represent areas of need in this province that will only grow with time. The success of Ontario’s future economy depends on the actions we take right now. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is ensuring that students will now explore how science relates to careers in the skilled trades and how emerging and new technologies can impact these careers.

These new learning expectations within the curriculum will ensure Ontario students are at the forefront of emerging innovation and thought and able to compete in the global economy.

Speaker, that is not all our government is doing to support student success. Additional resources are also available through the $550.7-million Learning Opportunities Grant and other allocations within the Grants for Student Needs, GSNs, for the 2022-23 school year.

Summer learning opportunities were made available, including credit, upgrading and non-credit courses funded through the Grants for Student Needs, as well as summer learning programs, including expanded opportunities for targeted student populations.

To better support student resilience and mental well-being, our government stabilized the student mental health funding provided in 2021-22 by securing it in the 2022-23 Grants for Student Needs, and is providing an additional $10 million to foster the continued learning and well-being of students. This represents an investment of over $90 million in total funding for the 2022-23 school year to support student mental health in Ontario.

In addition, our government has invested $304 million through the GSN for staffing supports, the hiring of teachers, early childhood educators and other education workers to address learning recovery, the implementation of the first year of fully destreamed grade 9 math, the delivery of remote learning and special-education supports, and the maintenance of enhanced cleaning standards.

Most recently, we are providing direct financial supports to parents through our catch-up payments. The catch-up payments are directly placed in the pockets of parents because we believe parents know what is most needed to support their children. All students in kindergarten to grade 12 will receive a payment of $200, while students with special needs will receive a payment of $250.

Speaker, our government is one that cares and believes that investing in Ontario students is important. So far, over 800,000 parents have submitted their application to receive direct payments that enable them to fill their child’s education needs as they see fit. The availability of catch-up payments is putting more money back into Ajax parents’ pockets and helping students overcome learning gaps created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have provided the largest investment in learning supports in the country, with over $175 million provided to boards to enhance in-school tutoring programs.

Previously, our government developed three unprecedented family support payment programs. Through the COVID-19 child benefit, we provided relief to over two million children with well over $800 million. Through Support for Families, we provided supports to families with more than $320 million. We also provided over $400 million through Support for Learners to help families face new education-related expenses.

Speaker, we have invested in Ontario students to mitigate the learning losses caused by the pandemic. Our government’s unwavering commitment to keep kids in school is also supported by many families. Parents and students would like to restore some balance in their lives, and they welcome additional supports from our government.

In the last month, I’ve met students and parents and listened to their concerns and heard their academic hopes and dreams. Many parents have mentioned that their children are losing soft skills that are crucial to their well-being and success in life. The one word I kept hearing repeatedly that challenged students’ hopes of achieving academic excellence was the word “uncertainty”—the words of missing out, the words of being labelled “the COVID generation.” They were uncertain if schools will remain open for in-person learning. Students are worried that they will not be able to see their friends and that they will be isolated again. The possibility of a strike brought forward by CUPE is increasing their anxiety and stress levels.

I’d like to highlight the total number of strike days that unions have imposed on Ontarian students and parents: between the years 1989 to 2020, that’s 2,224 strike days—I’d like to point out that 1,031 of those days were under the nose of the previous NDP government—with more than a million staff members who walked away from their jobs and imposed uncertainty on Ontario families. The impacts on students and parents were severe on many occasions, with classroom disruptions, financial challenges to find proper daycare, and the emotional and mental struggle of having to reconfigure their work schedule to match the needs of their children.

Despite our government’s best efforts and students hoping to remain in class for in-person learning, the NDP and Liberal members claim that supporting parents is irresponsible of our government. They’re asking why we’re providing direct financial supports to families when our government has already provided tutoring supports for in-class tutoring.

Why is the NDP fighting to disrupt students’ opportunity to succeed in a safe environment that not only allows them to thrive academically but also supports their mental and physical well-being?

The opposition would like us to take the money we dedicated to parents and supply it elsewhere. They’re adamant that politicians like themselves know better than a parent of a child.

Here’s my answer: Yes, we have provided additional funding to school boards. And yes, we have ensured schools are well equipped with what is necessary to keep our kids in school safely for in-person learning. And, yes, students can access tutoring supports through their school board. Online tutoring programs enable students to receive one-on-one supports from certified teachers, both through Mathify and Eureka!

I will repeat what I’ve said already: Many parents have spoken up and expressed that lockdowns have been especially difficult for their kids. Lockdowns have really impacted their social connections. Parents are talking about students being connected to their devices and not being social and not connecting with their peers.

Speaker, our government has recognized and demonstrated the additional support students need to make in-person learning our best option. We provided additional funding to school boards to hire more staff and invest in their infrastructure so students can access quality education in person with their peers.

Keeping kids in school is also supporting families. Our government is providing choice and flexibility to families to meet the needs of their students directly and to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 disruption. It is important for us to address these needs in a timely manner, and providing direct support will ensure tailored supports for each child.

The additional supports our government is providing are to ensure our education ecosystem continues to benefit Ontario students. Students are able to best utilize these resources if they remain in school for in-person learning from September right into the month of June. Parents and students alike are looking to be relieved from the limitations of online learning.

As I come to the end of my speech, I would like to ask the opposition, why are they so opposed to providing relief to families? Or is their position, as the opposition, to oppose everything our government is trying to accomplish by supporting Ontario’s parents, students and caregivers? Lastly, why does CUPE insist on disrupting in-person learning and contributing to student loss?

As I stated at the start of my remarks, over the last two years the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the delivery of education in Ontario and students’ achievement has been greatly impacted.

The Minister of Education stated, “It could not be clearer that we must keep students in class without disruption, with a focus on ... reading, writing and math—after two years of pandemic-related learning disruptions.”