I would like to share with members my recent engagement with students from Markham–Unionville. Two weeks ago, I had the pleasure of having Bianca Caracoglia from Markham–Unionville serve as a page. Bianca was selected from among hundreds of applications to serve in the House and learn about our Parliament and legislative process. I would like to extend my gratitude to Bianca, who demonstrated her responsibility, commitment and leadership during her service.

Just last week, I also had a meeting with JC, a grade 7 student in Markham–Unionville who is interested in becoming a page. We talked about the work of a page and how she can prepare herself for the application.

During the March break, I also hosted two tours of our Legislative Building. Over 60 residents in Markham–Unionville visited us. Many of the participants were students who are interested in the work of the Legislature. I was delighted to see students engaging in the tour and asking different questions, from the operation of the Parliament to the architecture of the Legislative Building to how I became an MPP.

Our children are the future. I am encouraged by the passion and enthusiasm of the children in the community and public affairs, and I am confident in the future of Ontario thanks to them.

My colleagues, I’m sure you feel a lot of energy in the chamber, because we have students from the St. Francis Xavier Secondary School model Parliament. I’d like to welcome Debbie Machado, Denicer Catacutan, Ahmad Elbayoumi, Cristian Casiero, Sonia Vaidya, Jacob Burek, Mark Saad, Anmar Alsibaie, Krisha Dave, Ashrita Samantula, Melissa Bantas, Hasan Obaid, Tiya Alsibaie, Christos Tsiourlis, Zaid Alam, Ishita Rajan, Adrien Ravindran, Lamees Elbayoumi, Evelyn Fonseca, Asher Khan, Andres Vargas-Daza, Lucas Helme, Adam Burek, Daniel Bai, Jessica Hui, Sara Alani, Ryan Bahlawan, Diala Jarcas, Lochan Devanand, Leen Suliman, Siddharth Iyer, Sambhavi Dubey, Aarrushi Nalwa, Gabriel Casiero, Satvik Garimella, Anagha Hamsala, Vyahruthi Danthurthy, Grishma Allam, Aditya Sharma and Liezel Amalaraj. These are the youth who are going to fill this chamber in the future. Welcome to your future home.

Good morning, Speaker. I’d like to welcome the remarkable students and the professor who are here from George Brown College. They’re here with a committee organizing a community worker program. Welcome to their House. They’re from the King Street campus.

In TDSB alone, which the member opposite represents, funding is up $38 million relative to 2017 with the Liberals in power, yet enrolment is down 16,000 students. Even still, funding is up.

Now with respect to the question on anti-racism, we take that seriously. I find it ironic, though, that when the members opposite could have supported what the research clearly states, that the educator that better reflects the classroom helps improve graduation rates—we abolished O. Reg. 274 because we believe in a meritocracy of hiring: the best educator, not seniority as supported by the opposition, ideologically blind to the research which is clear. Let’s put an educator that reflects the classroom. Let’s find someone who is highly talented, who is racialized, who reflects the experiences of often-diverse diasporas in this community and in this province. We’re going to stand up for those kids and ensure they get a job, they graduate, they own a home and they achieve their potential in this country, Speaker.