I want to introduce Jessica Rotolo, who is with us today. Jessica is an amazing model, artist, dancer and actor. She was born with Down syndrome and is a role model and self-advocate for the Down syndrome community. I’m very excited to introduce her; her father, Joseph; and her mother, Dorlean, to the Legislature.

Welcome, and thank you for inspiring us all.

It gives me great pleasure today to introduce members of the Equal Pay Coalition: Patty Coates, Chandra-Li Paul, Mina Amrith, and Maide Yazar.

Thank you for being here today, and thank you fighting for equal pay for women in this province.

I’m delighted to congratulate Madison Wong from Oakville, who is page captain today, and welcome her parents, Agnes Lim and David Wong, who are here in the Legislature today.

I’m very excited to welcome one of the young women—from the town of Wasaga Beach—Alex Kostecka-Silva, who is here with us for the women’s forum program.

I am very pleased to also welcome my friend, the former councillor and deputy mayor of the town of Wasaga Beach, Sylvia Bray, who is in the members’ gallery.

Seeing women involved in politics and the love that you have for Wasaga Beach—thank you so much for being engaged and for everything you do.

I just wanted to add to the Minister of Education’s introduction, because Jessica Rotolo is my resident in beautiful Beaches–East York.

Welcome to the chamber.

A thing you should know: Jessica is a very talented artist, and has beautiful cards and artwork available at a beautiful shop on Kingston Road called Chocollata, if you want to write anyone a love letter or a kind letter.

I wish a very warm welcome to an incredible person who I expect to be the future member for Windsor–Tecumseh: Jada Malott, who is participating in A Remarkable Assembly women’s forum today.

Welcome to Queen’s Park, Jada.

I am delighted to welcome Cat Van Eyk, who is here from London West as part of A Remarkable Assembly women’s forum.

Welcome to Queen’s Park, Cat.

I’d like to welcome Katrin Bender and Yasna Yassini from A Remarkable Assembly.

Welcome to your House today.

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.

Today is Equal Pay Day in Ontario. It symbolizes how far into the next year the average woman has to work to earn what the average man has earned in the previous year. And we haven’t yet reached the Equal Pay Day if you’re a woman who’s racialized, Indigenous, 2SLGBTQIA+ or disabled.

Pay equity is the law in this province. So my question to the Premier is, will he commit to enforcing the law to ensure every woman worker earns as much as her male counterparts?

The cost of living is going up and up and up, and many women are having trouble covering even basic necessities, all while this government does next to nothing to tackle the affordability crisis. I’m sorry to say that their for-profit health scheme is only going to make it worse. It’s going to cost women more in health care user fees and upselling. And women health care workers are going to earn even less, too, because research shows that privatizing public services leads to lower wages for women.

Back to the Premier: Will he stop his privatization agenda to deliver fairness for women?

I’m delighted to introduce a group that led for 10 years the Taste of Manila, a celebration of Philippine culture and excellence: Rolando “Rolly” Mangante, Nieves Mangante, Pepito Torralba, Lovely Danasol Luna, Marites de Jesus, Rose Ami, Dean de Jesus and, from my constituency office, Ferline David-Tura. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I want to acknowledge page Savannah Chu Morrison, who today is the captain of the pages. Her wonderful parents, Jemille Chu Morrison and Martin Chu Morrison, are in the gallery today. They are wonderful York Catholic District School Board teachers at the secondary level—wonderful, caring educators. Thank you to her parents as well.

We have with us in the Speaker’s gallery today His Excellency Héctor Igarza Cabrera, the ambassador of Cuba to Canada, and Mr. Jorge Yanier Castellanos Orta, the consul general of Cuba in Toronto. Please join me in warmly welcoming our guests to the Legislative Assembly today.

I hope that today’s activities inspire you to take an even greater role in public service or even politics.

Please join me in warmly welcoming them to the Legislature today.

Once again, I would like to welcome Michau van Speyk from the Ontario Autism Coalition back to the Legislature.

Some of the drag artists the leader was speaking about are specifically in the House today. Scarlett BoBo, Crystal Quartz, and a number of other drag performers prominent across Ontario and Canada are here.

Speaker, they have been asking and calling for action from this government now for months. They are asking for help. Their shows are being targeted. Their audience is being discriminated against—as well as harassment being targeted at the venues, the businesses that are hosting these events.

Because there has been no action and no real response from the government, we’re putting together a private member’s bill that will specifically address the hatred targeting the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in Ontario. I need to know, and we all need to know today: Will you be working with us to make sure that this bill becomes law to protect this community?

I thank the member for the question. It’s obviously a very important question.

Let me just say to the Leader of the Opposition that we are supporting all Ontarians, regardless of sexual orientation, race or creed.

Nobody wants to force anybody back into the closet, so I reject that outright.

I do understand the issues that the Leader of the Opposition is raising. I fully expect that she’s raising them with the utmost care and wants to promote an important issue in the community.

That’s why the government is continuing—I know the Solicitor General, the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, and the Minister of Education, with respect to some of the changes that we’re making in our school system—we are all seized on this, and it’s not just the government, frankly.

I think members on all sides of the House understand how important it is that everybody feels safe in the province of Ontario and that we honour everybody’s right to live and prosper in Ontario, regardless of who you are, who you love, and what God you worship.

I’d like to thank the Leader of the Opposition for that very important question.

First and foremost, Ontario is proud to be home to a strong, resilient and vibrant 2SLGBTQIA+ community, whose experiences and contributions have shaped our province into the great place it is today.

There is no place for hate of any kind here in Ontario, and it will never be tolerated.

As the Minister of Citizenship and Multiculturalism, I am proud to be working with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, listening and learning from their lived experiences and the ongoing struggles that we work on together for equity and inclusion.

We will continue to work with our 2SLGBTQIA+ community, as allies and partners, to build a stronger, safer and more inclusive Ontario. Together, we will continue to build a province where people from all walks of life can freely express who they are and who they love, wherever they want.

Speaker, as I mentioned, hate and intolerance against anyone in any form will never be tolerated by this government or in this great province.

Ontario is a place where people from all traditions, customs and beliefs can come and express fully and safely—respected, no matter your background, faith or sexual orientation.

I’d like to just remind the opposition that it is under the leadership of this Premier and this government that we invested $40 million to protect faith, cultural and vulnerable communities, and another $5 million to raise awareness to fight hate and racism in all its forms.

Mr. Speaker, this government will always stand with our 2SLGBTQIA+ community and all vulnerable communities to make sure they can live in the province of Ontario free of hate and can succeed.

Stop the clock for a second, please.

I can’t hear what’s being said with my earpiece. There seems to be a technical malfunction—so no heckling. There can’t be any heckling until we get this fixed, because I can’t hear.

Start the clock.

The final supplementary.

The associate minister.

Speaker, 68 cents on the dollar—that’s what women are earning right now, and it’s just not right.

Closing the gender wage gap lifts up all workers. Closing the gender wage gap makes our province more attractive to international investment. Closing the gender wage gap is the right thing to do for our economy and for women.

To the Premier: Will he commit to closing the gender wage gap once and for all?

Interjections.

Speaker, my question is again to the Premier: Does his government agree that queer and trans Ontarians deserve new protections from hate crimes, and legally enforceable safe spaces?

A few months ago, I was in Hamilton, when a fabulous drag artist, Crystal Quartz—who is coming here into the gallery in a few minutes—was putting on a show at Kelseys. Unfortunately, there was a really hateful protest outside the restaurant. So MPP Wong-Tam and I decided to go and show our support.

This was in Hamilton, but we’re seeing this all across the province: Guelph, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Welland, Renfrew, Elora, Dryden, Sarnia, Peterborough, Ottawa, and Toronto—just a few of the cities in Ontario where drag artists have faced hate speech, harassment, and even death threats.

Communities have come together to resist this hate in many inspiring ways, but without the urgent action that people need, people are at risk.

Back to the Premier: Will his government commit today to supporting the NDP’s legislation to protect 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and drag artists across Ontario?

My question was very specific.

Queer and trans Ontarians have been asking for action from this government for months. Every time an all-ages drag event is targeted in a small business or a library, it’s not just 2SLGBTQIA+ Ontarians but also staff and workers and business owners who are threatened.

Again to the Premier: Will his government step up and stop the hateful extremists from trying to force queer and trans people back in the closet?