I want to begin by thanking all of those health care workers who are working every single day to serve our families and serve our communities right across the province.

The law in Ontario is crystal clear: Racism, violence and harassment in the workplace are illegal.

We’re continuing to work for all workers in this province. That’s why we hired more than 100 new health and safety inspectors to bring that total to the highest number in Ontario history.

Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve done more than 100,000 workplace investigations and inspections, including thousands and thousands in health care facilities across the province.

If any worker is afraid for his or her safety in a workplace, please call the Ministry of Labour at 877-202-0008, and we’ll investigate.

Furthermore, apart from hiring more than 100 new health and safety inspectors and doing more than 13,000 field visits to health care facilities across the province since the start of the pandemic, in our second Working for Workers legislation, we increased the fines to any employers who are breaking the law in this province. They can be fined up to $1.5 million—that’s the highest anywhere in the country.

The so-called party of workers, the NDP, voted against the Working for Workers legislation that increased the fines to employers that break the law. They voted against putting naloxone kits in workplaces to save lives because of the opioid pandemic. They voted against giving gig workers the minimum wage. This is not the party of workers—it’s Premier Ford and the Progressive Conservative government.