Good morning, Speaker, and through you to the member opposite: I think it’s entirely unreasonable that CUPE is refusing to compromise on their unreasonable demand of a 50% overall increase in compensation.

By way of example, the federal government right now is offering their workers approximately a 2% annual increase, and according to Statistics Canada, the average annual increase in labour talks in 2022 for the private sector is 1.8%.

We all know about the negative effects that a strike would have on our students, their learning and their mental health, but could the member opposite please explain the effects an enormous 50% increase in CUPE compensation would have on the taxpayers and the parents here in Ontario?

I would like to read an email from one of my constituents:

“Hello,

“We are parents of a grade 7 student....

“Our child is thriving this year and she is quite upset at the thought of school being disrupted, but she is also old enough”—

Interjections.

“As parents and taxpayers, we are appalled at the heavy-handed approach to the lowest-income earners in the education sector....

“The cost of living has gotten out of control yet wages have not kept up.” Then, they thank me for my time.

What I would like to know is, what does this member say to constituents whose emails he receives, I’m sure, quite the same within his own community?