My question is for the Premier. Speaker, ferry workers in Kingston are in a manufactured staffing crisis. Instead of raising these ferry workers’ wages to competitive levels, the minister has decided to pay an out-of-province temporary staffing agency two to three times more than what these unionized MTO ferry workers earn.

Some of the workers are in the public gallery today, Speaker, and their question is to the Premier: Will the Conservative government finally stop paying scab labour to do their jobs? Will they respect the collective agreement and repeal Bill 124 so that workers can get back to work with fair pay and competitive wages?

The ferry passengers have experienced cancellations and delays of up to 12 hours on this vital transportation route, and worse still, the understaffing situation is a health and safety issue. There was a dangerous incident on the Wolfe Island ferry just last month. These workers deserve to have safe working conditions, and the passengers deserve to feel secure, knowing that there are well-trained, experienced staff to ensure they’re safe during their commute.

My question, Speaker: Will the Conservative government stop the service disruptions and reductions caused by deliberate ministry understaffing and invest in permanent MTO ferry workers who keep our ferries safe and on time?

I thank the member opposite for the question. Ferries are an integral part of Ontario’s transportation network, and I know that communities across the province rely on this essential mode of transportation for them to get to and from their homes and for first responders as well.

Ontario is facing a historic shortage of workers that impacts sector across the board, including an industry-wide shortage of licensed seafarers that has affected ferry operations in the province. Mr. Speaker, in our budget, we announced funding for 20 new staff for our ferries. And in response to this industry-wide shortage of seafarers, my ministry is working with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities so that we can offer more training programs to get more workers in the industry.

Mr. Speaker, this is not just a problem that is facing Ontario; it is a problem across the country. And that’s why, at my most recent federal-provincial-territorial ministers meeting, I had the opportunity to discuss this with my colleagues from across the country so that we can make sure that we’re addressing it so that we can get ferries operating on a consistent basis.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: Our government will never compromise when it comes to the safety of our travelling public. As per Transport Canada regulations, all ferries must be staffed with qualified and properly trained workers, and our goal is to make sure that all ferries are safely operational as soon as possible. That’s why we’re working so diligently towards it.

We have new ferries coming on board. The new Wolfe Islander IV and the Amherst Islander II ferries will be in service as soon as possible. As I said, our government is committed to working across the country with our partners, but also within government, with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, to make sure that we have training programs in place so that we can have workers operating our ferries as soon as possible.

I’d like to welcome back our friends from OPSEU, the ferry workers, going through a labour dispute currently and anxious to hear the petitions being read today.

MPP Wong-Tam moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 86, An Act to establish an Advisory Committee to Protect Ontario’s People and Economy from Airborne Pandemics / Projet de loi 86, Loi créant un comité consultatif pour la protection de la population et de l’économie de l’Ontario contre les pandémies à virus transmissibles par voie aérienne.

“Whereas the Wolfe Island ferry and Glenora ferry have had serious service disruptions due to a staffing crisis created by the Ontario government; and

“Whereas residents and visitors to Wolfe Island have been trapped on the island for up to 12 hours with no way to leave, even for emergencies or work; and

“Whereas Glenora ferry has had a reduced schedule during this year’s busy tourism season, creating hours of lineups and delays for passengers; and

“Whereas the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) ferry workers are drastically underpaid in comparison to the rest of the marine industry, causing recruitment and retention issues; and

“Whereas instead of paying competitive wages and hiring more permanent staff, MTO has contracted out the work to Reliance Offshore, an out-of-province, private temporary staffing agency, which charges up to twice as much hourly as ministry staff earn; and

“Whereas contracting out the work is a waste of our public funds on a stopgap solution that doesn’t provide long-term stability to our ferry system;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“(1) Fix our ferries—stop the service disruptions and reductions caused by ministry understaffing.

“(2) Repeal Bill 124, which has imposed a three-year wage cut on already underpaid ferry workers during high inflation, and pay them fair, competitive wages.

“(3) End the outrageously expensive contracts with private temporary staffing agencies and hire permanent Ministry of Transportation ferry workers to work and live in our communities instead.”

I wholeheartedly support this petition, Speaker. I’ll affix my signature and give it to Jing to give to the table.