I want to thank the member for Niagara West for that question and for his promotion of the well-paying careers in the skilled trades in the Niagara region. You’ve done heroic work down there—to the member. So I want to thank him for that.

Mr. Speaker, since day one, our government has been on a mission to get more people into the skilled trades. These careers are exciting, in-demand, come with good pay and benefits, often with a defined pension, and you can be damn proud of what you build. The skilled trade system, however, suffered massive neglect thanks to the former Liberal government.

Today, nearly one in three journeypersons are over the age 55 and will soon retire. That is why our government is making truly historic investments—in fact, over $1.5 billion over four years—to fix the problems that we inherited. Mr. Speaker, it’s all hands on deck, and we’re working with employers and unions every day to prepare more people for these lifelong careers.

Through our Skills Development Fund, we’re giving people right across Ontario the skills they need to fill in-demand jobs and earn bigger paycheques for themselves, but, most importantly, for their families.

Mr. Speaker, our government has an ambitious plan to build Ontario and we’re leaving nobody behind.