My question is to the Minister of Labour. Minister, just a few weeks ago, Jamaican migrant farm workers in Niagara region wrote to the Minister of Labour in Jamaica, raising concerns about their working conditions here in Ontario. Sadly, days later, on August 14, Garvin Yapp of St. James, Jamaica, was killed in an accident with a tobacco harvester in Norfolk.

Every worker deserves a safe working environment and the basic expectation that when they come to work, they will return home to their family safely, just as they came, wherever that may be. Migrant workers come to this province in good faith and expect a safe working environment as they fulfill the jobs in our agricultural sector that are vital, not only to the agricultural sector but to our economy overall.

Minister, what are you doing to keep these migrant workers safe?

Minister, you’ve just tabled a budget. If you could tell this House what you’re doing to keep these migrant workers safe. We’re preparing for another COVID season. We know that we did not have a very good start with these workers when COVID began. They are looking for more from us, and they’re appealing for that support. So if you can describe what you’re doing currently with your responsibility to keep them safe.

I thank the member for this very important question. First, I want to begin by expressing my condolences to the family impacted by the loss of life.

I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, like the member opposite said, every single worker deserves to come home safely after a hard day’s work. We know the importance of agriculture workers in this province. They truly are heroes, putting food on all of our tables, supporting families right across this province.

Mr. Speaker, I did reach out to Minister Fraser, the federal minister. As the member opposite knows, the Temporary Foreign Worker Program is the responsibility of the federal government. They’re also in charge of bunkhouses.

Specifically on the incident that she is referring to, we are investigating as we speak and committing to getting answers for these families as quickly as possible.

In the supplemental, I’ll talk about more actions that we’re doing to keep all workers safe in Ontario.

We have now hired more than 100 additional health and safety inspectors to bring the total number to the largest inspectorate in Ontario’s history. We’ve doubled the health and safety action phone lines to ensure that any worker, including migrant workers, if they’re concerned for his or her safety in a workplace or on a job site, can call the Ministry of Labour and have an inspector go out and ensure that workplace conditions are safe.

In our Working for Workers legislation, we have introduced a licensing system to crack down on temporary help agencies who are breaking the law. We have introduced the largest fines for companies who aren’t abiding by the health and safety laws in this province. We’ll continue working for workers every single day, protecting the health and safety of all workers in this province.