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 guess it’s Halloween, because we got the trick—not much of a treat for the thousands of education workers across this province, mostly women, who, not to use a Christmas analogy, are going to get a lump of coal in their stocking.

Look, there are three things we need to remember about what’s going on right now. This bill smells a lot like Bill 124. What’s Bill 124? It’s a bill that restricts the rights and wages of nurses and front-line health care workers who are mostly women. I think we can all agree on that. What’s the government doing right now? The government is restricting the wages and the bargaining rights of another group of workers who are mostly women. I dare anyone in this House to tell me where they’ve done that—this government—in a group that’s dominated, mostly, by men. Think about it.

So why is this government building a surplus on the backs of women? Why is this government doing that? That’s exactly what they’re doing here. That’s exactly what’s happening.

Let’s talk about who these workers are. They’re custodians. They’re EAs. They are early childhood educators. Actually, they’re administrators. My mother-in-law used to be what they used to call a school secretary; they call it an administrator now. She was that for 25 years. She got paid crap. But do you know what? That school would not have functioned without her. It wouldn’t have worked.

Across this province, there are thousands and thousands of women and men who do that every day, the lowest-paid workers. It sounds like you guys are trying to use them as an example for the rest of them. Good job, Premier; good job. Good message for—

These workers are critical to safe and welcoming schools. We all know that. And they’re the lowest paid—

Interjections.

The Premier has said many times, “These are front-line heroes. They’re the greatest. They’re the most wonderful, folks. I love them. They love me.” That’s what he says. But if they’re that important, if they’re that essential, then why doesn’t the government treat them as essential workers? If they’re that essential and that important, why don’t they pay them like essential workers? And if they’re that essential and important, why don’t they actually do what we do in health care, which is to create a framework for fair bargaining while we keep schools open? I don’t think that’s a tough one. If you’re going to say they’re essential, then treat them like they’re essential.

All this spin and scary stuff on Halloween—