Thank you for the reminder, Speaker.

I’m going to try to be brief, because I know there are many of my colleagues who want to speak to this as well. We are talking about changing the schedule, but we’re talking about changing the schedule to 5 a.m. and sitting early—3 p.m. to 1 p.m.—so that the Conservative government can rush through legislation to attack the most vulnerable and lowest-paid workers in the education sector. This is cruel, and this is heartless.

Today during question period, I talked about Charity. I reminded this Premier that I spoke about Charity in August, and today again I spoke about Charity and the fact that she works full-time and goes to food banks to feed her kids. Essentially, the minister and the Premier are her employer, and they are comfortable—the Minister of Education, the Minister of Labour, the Premier of the Conservative Party are comfortable that their employees have to go to food banks to feed their kids. And, Speaker, they have the audacity to say this is about taking care of children. The Minister of Education said “equitable access to nutrition.”

I want to tell you, Speaker, I’ve talked about growing up below the poverty line, growing up poor. My back-to-school clothes for every year of my life until I was 16 were from the Salvation Army. You could collect clothing, and you paid 25 cents for a bag. They wouldn’t charge 25 cents to my mom, because we were that poor.

There are people in this province who are living in deep, deep poverty, and this Conservative government gave a standing ovation when they attacked these workers. It is disgraceful. And asking us to come back so you can attack them earlier, so you can hit them earlier, kick them while they’re down, is disgraceful.

I promised earlier I was going to be short, but I want to circle back to Charity, who messaged me after the question. She said, “I am terrified. I already have to go to food banks. What’s going to happen next when they do this? My kids tonight will be going trick-or-treating in the same Halloween costumes as last year because I can’t afford new ones.”

This is an embarrassment for the party, and I hope that all workers remember this.