Speaker, my question to the Premier: Yesterday, Ontario’s lowest-paid education workers—educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators—told the government to get serious about negotiating a fair deal. But instead of respecting the process, today the education minister will move to impose a contract on these workers and ban their right to strike. His actions have brought us to the brink of disruption in our schools. He is creating an unnecessary crisis for families and for education workers.

Will the Premier stop these reckless actions and get back to the bargaining table today?

Education workers are integral to our schools, but because of chronically low wages, half have been forced to take a second job just to make ends meet, and a quarter have either cut back on purchasing food or have had to use a food bank. Does the Premier think it’s acceptable to pay education workers so little that they have to rely on food banks?

Last year, the government posted a $2.1-billion surplus, and the Financial Accountability Office has projected that this government will run surpluses for the next six years, totalling about $25 billion. But at the bargaining table, the minister says the cupboard is bare for Ontario’s lowest-paid education workers. Education workers support students and schools every day, but this government would rather cry poor than pay them a fair wage and protect education.

Why is this government so intent on shortchanging our schools and our education workers?

Education support workers are the backbone of our schools, but most can’t make ends meet. In August, I told the Premier about Charity. She was the full-time education support worker who relied on food banks to help feed her children—food banks, Speaker. I asked the Premier then if he would commit to a pay increase so that education support workers like Charity wouldn’t have to rely on food banks, and today that answer is a resounding no.

The Conservative government is set to impose a contract on education support workers, denying them the right to bargain a fair wage. Speaker, why does the Conservative government think it’s acceptable to force workers to work for so little?

Last week, I met with a roomful of education support workers, and Kori was one of them. She is a single mom of two. She loves her job as a cleaner and works hard to ensure that students are safe and that they have a healthy school environment. Kori told me she recently had to move in with her parents just to make ends meet. Kori is underpaid and she’s overworked, Speaker. She wants a fair wage so she can support her children while doing a job she loves—a job that is important.

Will the Conservative government and the minister finally recognize that education support workers like Kori deserve more than a nickel so they can support students’ success?

Speaker, this is not how you build a quality education system. Our kids will have less support in schools if the Premier keeps chasing away education workers with these poverty wages. CUPE will be at the table all week, ready to negotiate with the Conservative government. Will this government commit to not tabling pre-emptive legislation and instead return to the table and bargain a fair deal that will invest in our schools and education support workers?

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.