I rise to speak against this motion, which is designed to fast-track a bill that is fiscally irresponsible, that doesn’t work for workers and doesn’t work for students.

Speaker, the reason I’m opposed to this motion to fast-track a bill that doesn’t work for students is because if the government really wanted to work for students and put students and families first, they would be spending the time that we’re spending in the House right now, and that we’ll spend tomorrow, actually negotiating with workers, negotiating a fair deal.

Quite frankly, what the government has offered, especially to some of the lowest-paid education workers in this province, is unfair. To offer them a 30-to-50-cent-per-hour increase when many of these workers work for less than $40,000 a year—Speaker, I think it’s pretty reasonable at a time when we’re experiencing the kind of inflation we’re experiencing for them to request a $3-an-hour wage increase. So I would encourage the government, if they’re going to work for workers, to actually sit down and bargain with workers rather than fast-tracking this legislation.

The reason I think it’s inappropriate to fast-track legislation that’s fiscally irresponsible is because we’ve seen in the past—and the Liberals here just apologized for Bill 115—that these kinds of bills that violate bargaining rights end up costing taxpayers more in the long run. That’s why we shouldn’t be fast-tracking this bill with this motion.

Mr. Speaker, my message to the government is, if you want to address the worker shortages we’re seeing in the education sector, then pay workers a fair wage. Don’t fast-track this bill; actually go back to the table and bargain in a fair and responsible way that puts students and families first.