There’s a lot of great Ottawa folks in the building today. I want to shout out Sue Rab and Richard Brown, from OSSTF Local 25.

We often, in this House, stand on our feet when former members of this House come, but I want to shout out Julian Ovens, who’s with us today in the members’ gallery, who served at least three federal ministers as chief of staff. His daughter, Gabrielle Ovens, is part of our page crew this week. Julian, it’s really great to see you today. Gabrielle, thanks for your work for this House. Thank you for your work for the country.

I want to welcome OSSTF as well. In particular, from Sudbury, across from me here, I see our D3 professional student services personnel president, Dan Watson, and district 3 president, Eric Laberge. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I’d also like to welcome the great individuals from OSSTF/FEESO: Sarah Adams, Jonathan Lam, Julie Montes, Chere Schneider, Monica Zacharias and Dan Staples, as well as all the other great front-line education workers. Thank you for the engaging breakfast this morning. I hope your meetings with the government go well.

I want to welcome Cassandra Beach, the mother of our amazing page Mae, who is doing bring your mom to work day today, instead. Thank you.

That may have been the longest five minutes in the history of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, but I want to thank the members for their indulgence to allow the members to introduce their guests.

To reply, the Premier.

The supplementary question.

I’d like to welcome OSSTF local members: Seth Bernstein, Vincent Bisasor, Chris Chandler, Derik Chica, Ricardo Harvey, Danica Izzard, Mark Kissel, Paulina Monlouis, Michael Platt and Michelle Teixeira and all the other OSSTF members, as well as all the other guests here who are joining us today.

I’d like to thank all of the OPSEU health professionals who came to Queen’s Park today. It’s a long list; bear with me: Megan North, Ashley Palmer, Betty Palmieri, Nicole Parro, Rohan Quest, Gayatri Samaroo, Kristyn Silver, Chrisy Tremblay, Joel Usher, Christa Walker, Elizabeth Watts, Rob Ziegler, Noemi Khondo, Kelsea Mahabir, Laurie Nancekivell—who is their vice-president—Brenda Allan, Adrian Balojin, Sandra Blancher, Carole Breeze, Keri-Ann Brunson, Melissa Coenraad, Samantha Green, Daniel Hahn, Coleen Houlder, Gail Kelly, Sara Labelle—in charge of health care—Elizabeth Leasa, Steven McCaw, Jordan McTavish and Angela Muraca. Forgive the French accent. They are all nice people.

I would like to welcome Carlos Santander, Matthew Roy and Gordon Robitaille, who have come here from Thunder Bay. Gordon had to do an extra hour to get here from Nipigon. Welcome.

I’d like to acknowledge Dr. Charles Frank from the Ontario Dental Association, from my hometown of Tecumseh, who is here today.

I have many friends in the audience in the chamber today. I wish to acknowledge the Ontario Dental Association, the OPSEU health professionals division, Western University, the Scleroderma Society of Ontario and OSSTF. Thank you, and welcome to you all.

On behalf of the official opposition, I’d like to welcome all the amazing members of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, including president Karen Littlewood. Thanks for all the hard work that you do for our students, and thanks for coming here today to share your stories with us.

J’aimerais aussi dire un mot de bienvenue aux représentants de l’AEFO. Merci pour votre travail important, aussi.

The member for Davenport will come to order. The member for Toronto–St. Paul’s will come to order. The member for Ottawa Centre will come to order.

The Premier has the floor.

Interjections.

So once again, if you repeatedly ignore the request of the Speaker to come to order, I will move to warnings, and we know what happens after that if you ignore that, okay?

Start the clock. Supplementary.

Final supplementary?

The member will withdraw his unparliamentary comment.

Interjections.

I will ask the member once again to withdraw his unparliamentary comment.

Mr. Tabuns was escorted from the chamber.

Interjections.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Interjection.

MPP West was escorted from the chamber.

Interjections.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Ms. Stiles was escorted from the chamber.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Interjection.

MPP Andrew was escorted from the chamber.

My question is to the Premier.

While this government is actively stripping away the collective bargaining rights from workers, we’ve been listening to education workers in my community of Niagara Falls, in Fort Erie and in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

In Niagara, we spoke to Carrie, a school secretary who has been a loyal worker for nearly 20 years. She still makes under $39,000 a year, and she has a second job just to make ends meet. She even considered getting a third job because of the increased cost of food, gas and housing.

Does this Premier think that education workers should have to work two extra jobs in order to avoid using food banks?

Let me remind the member opposite that children in this province should have rights too, and they should be in school in this province.

Mr. Speaker, we have been clear—

Interjections.

We have an obligation to ensure stability. We asked the union to bring forth a proposal that withdraws a strike on Friday. We gave them multiple opportunities to do so, and yesterday night, at 10 p.m., hearing from the mediator and through the mediator—

Interjection.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Mr. Speaker, so long as the union regrettably proceeds with this unacceptable strike, the government will have no choice but to proceed with legislation to avert a strike and keep these kids in the classroom, where they belong.

Interjection.

Mr. Speaker, how about the students? How about the mental, emotional and even physical well-being of two million students and therefore the—

Interjections.

Mr. Speaker, the opposition can’t have it both ways. Either they support shutting down schools or they stand with this government and will support keeping kids in classrooms. It’s either strikes or students, and we’re with the students.

Again to the Premier: The government’s use of the “notwithstanding” clause to ban workers from collective bargaining is wrong. It’s something the Prime Minister and I seem to agree on, and I don’t agree with him on almost anything.

Here’s what the Prime Minister had to say—your good buddy: “The suspension of people’s rights is something you should only do in the most exceptional circumstances, and I really hope that all politicians call out the overuse of the ‘notwithstanding’ clause to suspend people’s rights and freedoms.”

The Premier is fond of standing shoulder to shoulder with the Prime Minister. I’ve seen the photos. So will the Premier change tack today, join the Prime Minister—his good friend—and condemn the use of the “notwithstanding” clause?

LIUNA was first out of the gate in endorsing Ford last election, but had harsh words for this government. International vice-president Joe Mancinelli: “On behalf of LIUNA, we call on Minister” Lecce “to revoke anti-union legislation and restore the collective bargaining rights of CUPE members and act in good faith to reach an agreement that prioritizes both keeping students in school and the rights and respect of all workers.”

So to the Premier: Will he listen to his friends at LIUNA and rip up Bill 28?

Interjections.

Back to the Premier—but before I ask my next question, maybe, out of respect for our veterans, the Minister of Education should put a poppy on. Everybody else in the House has one on.

While their charter rights are ignored by this government, and they hold back $2.1 billion in spending, we continue to hear from education workers that are struggling. Our office spoke this week to Jennifer, an educational assistant with over 20 years on the job. She’s never seen it so bad. Schools do not have the EA supply staff they need. Staff are facing rising violence in our schools. They can’t hold on to staff due to low wages. There are serious health and safety concerns.

Does the Premier think that trampling on the Charter of Rights and refusing to invest in our education system is going to fix the crisis we have in our schools? Premier, answer the question.

The government of Ontario has a responsibility to parents and students. This is a sacred trust. That responsibility includes the guarantee of top-quality education for our children and placing the most qualified teachers in front of our students.

We’ve heard many times about the need for students to remain in class and what students will learn in these classes. However, the individuals teaching these classes matter just as much as a subject’s content. From principals and vice-principals to math, art, music and science teachers, and the many more types of educators we have in this province, we need the most qualified individuals at the front of the classroom.

Speaker, to the Minister of Education: What has our government done to ensure the right educator is in front of our children?

In the last year, young educators and veteran educators across my riding have expressed their delight in this government’s revoking of regulation 274. They are grateful that our government recognized and provided a solution to the previous hiring practices that neither rewarded hard work nor gave the best chance of having the best possible educator in front of our children.

As our province’s population grows, our government must focus on the future to ensure we have enough educators in places experiencing that growth. Can the Minister of Education please explain how revoking regulation 274 encourages teacher mobility?

To reply, the Minister of Education.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Ms. Fife was escorted from the chamber.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Mr. Gates was escorted from the chamber.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Ms. Karpoche was escorted from the chamber.

Interjection.

Interjection.

Mrs. Gretzky was escorted from the chamber.

Interjections.

Member for Ottawa Centre, come to order. If you persist, you will be named.

Interjection.

Mr. Harden was escorted from the chamber.

Interjection.

MPP Vaugeois was escorted from the chamber.

Minister of Education.

Supplementary question.