Our government is dedicated to supporting equal pay for work of equal value. Our government introduced the Supporting Retention in Public Services Act to ensure that existing pay gaps are not widened and that we are ensuring that employers meet their obligations when it comes to equal pay for equal work.

I’d also like to say that we have the Pay Equity Office in place to ensure that we have a functioning and strong complaints system in place, and they are busy and they are working really hard.

We’ve also been working diligently on empowering women and providing women with supports to make sure they have all the resources they need to enter or re-enter the workforce.

And we’re breaking down barriers for women so they feel free to pursue male-dominated jobs, such as ones in the skilled trades and STEM.

We are taking many actions and making sure that we’re going into communities and making sure organizations have the supports to see women succeed in Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, we’re seeing a significant increase in women entering the workforce; around 70,000 women have come back to the workforce since December.

We’re going to continue to keep moving forward, because we know women have so much to contribute to Ontario.

And I’m telling you, Mr. Speaker, when women have to take care of families, they need to make sure they can afford things, and the gas tax is making it very difficult for women to be able to afford the basics in life.

So I would encourage the members opposite to—

Interjections.

The member opposite and the Leader of the Opposition is absolutely right. That’s why we have a government that sees women’s social and economic opportunities as a priority. Women contribute so much to our overall economy—and that’s why we are investing significantly to see that we are expanding the Investing in Women’s Futures Program across Ontario; we announced 10 more locations opening up, to get more women the skills and the supports they need to get into the workforce and into the driver’s seat of their financial future.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve invested over $170 million in employment and training supports so that women have training for in-demand skills and have the opportunities to connect with employers. That’s why we have the Minister of Economic Development, who has brought in billions of dollars in the EV technology sector—

Ontario is primed and ready to see women at the forefront, and we are doing everything—

Our government is fighting very hard to empower women and to close the gender pay gap by addressing the barriers that make it difficult for women to enter or re-enter and stay in the workforce—addressing things like participation that impact pay equity.

We are seeing more and more women—I’m going across Ontario, and I’m blown away by the amount of women who are leaders in their sectors—leaders and CEOs, women who are in the C-suite. The goal is to get more women in leadership, because these women are hiring more women, because they see the benefits and the value of having women in the workforce.

Mr. Speaker, we’re investing significantly to get more women into the skilled trades, a sector that pays well, has great benefits and can provide significant economic empowerment for women for generations.

We take this seriously because we know women play a valuable and important role in growing Ontario’s economy.

All women in all sectors are valued—and we appreciate and thank everything that they are doing to move our economy and move Ontario forward.

Mr. Speaker, we’re seeing more and more women enter the workforce. And isn’t that what we want to see—women being in the driver’s seat of their economic future and leaders in their field and their sector? Isn’t that what we want for all women—to see women like the women up there just powering through and showing that women can be leaders and strong leaders?

That’s why our Premier and our government decided to say, “We need a Ministry of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity.” We take this seriously. I don’t only do this for my daughters, but I do it for all daughters and all women who are coming up in Ontario and all the women in this room. We’re seeing the benefits and the value of doing that.

I fully believe that when women succeed, Ontario succeeds.