Today, on International Women’s Day, I want to focus on real actions that this House has the power to take to support all women. To support all women, we need pay equity. This means enacting the Pay Transparency Act shelved by the Conservative government, which would have ensured that women in all sectors, such as law, technology and business, would receive equal pay for equal work.

To support all women, we need to take the housing and homelessness crisis seriously. Women don’t want to hear vague talking points about how much you love them. They want this government to find the love to actually fund shelters and fund housing that will truly support them.

To support all women, we need to reverse the cuts to sexual violence support centres and legal aid. These services heal and empower women and allow women across Ontario to access justice.

To support all women, we need to implement recommendations from the Renfrew county inquest to stop gender-based violence in Ontario, including recommendation number one, which will declare intimate partner violence an epidemic.

To support all women, we need to pass the gender-affirming health care act and ensure all women have access to the health care that they truly need and deserve.

To support all women, we need to follow the lead of provinces like British Columbia and guarantee universal, free access to contraception.

To support all women, we need to repeal Bill 124, which is sexist and wage-suppressing. That will truly support women.

Happy International Women’s Day, everyone.

We are getting more women into jobs, more than ever before. We are investing heavily in employment training and support so women have access to in-demand skills and opportunities. In fact, we’ve seen an increase just in December alone of gains for women in full-time employment of up to 63,000. So we are building Ontario, and women are at the forefront of that.

But, Mr. Speaker, I think what the members opposite may be failing to understand is that in order for women to have access to the support, to be in a healthy mindset to get jobs, maintain jobs, they need to feel safe. And women are not feeling safe, mainly because they don’t have a safe home to go to. We are working to build homes faster in Ontario.

Many women are staying in shelters longer, because they don’t have places to go. We’ve heard this in shelters across Ontario. I’ve been to Hastings, Oakville, Burlington—they’re saying the same thing. So, Mr. Speaker, if the members opposite really want to support women and put women’s safety and priority first, they’ll support Bill 23, our government’s—

We’re also breaking barriers for women so that they feel free to enter male-dominated jobs—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, wraparound supports, job training, entrepreneur supports—we’re making investments. Women are at the forefront of the post-pandemic economy, and we’re seeing women get into jobs more than ever before.

If women are to leave their abusers, we need investment in shelters, and safe, non-ghettoized housing, and we need to double social assistance rates. When women don’t have access to enough money to live on, or safe places to go, they can’t escape their abusers.

Will this government increase funding to shelters, increase safe, affordable housing? Here I’ll digress a little bit, because the kind of housing that’s available right now is ghettoized. That means that women in those places are targeted by gangs and their places are taken over. They are not safe spaces. They might be affordable, but they’re not safe.

To continue, we need that safe housing, and we need to double social assistance rates. Will the government commit to increasing funding?

Back to the Premier: Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region provides life-saving, safe and compassionate shelter and transitional housing to women and children experiencing domestic violence. In their pre-budget submission, they detailed the desperate need for core operational funding. Provincially, that number is $60 million, noting the rise in domestic violence across the province.

A key ask involves transitional housing, which is foundational for survivors to move out of a shelter while they’re maintaining support and safety before living independently. It is crucial to addressing the bottleneck on housing wait-lists and emergency shelters.

Will the government commit to providing organizations like Women’s Crisis Services with operational funding for VAW transitional housing programs in the 2023 budget? Because I hope that we can all agree that we should not have to fundraise in the province of Ontario to keep women and children safe.