Thank you to the member from Toronto Centre. I want to congratulate them on their success in the election.

One thing she said earlier on—she was talking about health care—was, we’re not investing; we’re in fact making a cut. She was talking about the dollars towards—versus the cost of living and the inflation rate being at 8.1%.

Some 27 years ago, Speaker, as you know, the former Conservative government under Mike Harris cut OW and ODSP by 21%.

Then, in 2018-19, they started bragging about the 1.5% increase.

And then this budget is looking at 5%.

With your lived experience of being on social assistance, can you explain what it means when you can’t make ends meet, when you don’t make enough money even to pay for rent, let alone for food or hydro?

CUPE’s Ontario School Board Council of Unions represents 55,000 education workers. These are the early childhood educators, the administrative workers, the bus drivers, the custodians, the maintenance workers. Despite being the backbone of the education system, their pay is so low that many of these full-time workers have to work part-time jobs just to make ends meet. This is shameful.

My question is to the Premier. The OSBCU contract expires on August 31. I’m wondering, will the Conservative government ensure these workers can keep up with the rising cost of affordability by providing them with a pay increase that keeps pace with this rising cost of living?

Back to the Premier: Speaker, as the Minister of Education knows, the majority of these workers are women.

I met with Charity, one of these workers, and she told me that despite having a full-time job, she goes to food banks on a regular basis to feed her children.

Education workers like Charity keep our communities safe and running. They put their heart and soul, and their health and safety, on the line to protect our children. They should earn enough to be able to feed their families without going to food banks.

Speaker, all workers deserve dignity.

My question is, will the Conservative government commit to a pay increase, so education workers like Charity won’t have to rely on food banks to feed their children?