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?

I want to thank the member from Sarnia–Lambton for being such a champion in his community for people in the skilled trades. Our government is on a mission to get more young people into these careers.

Right now, in our province, nearly 400,000 jobs are going unfilled. By 2025, one in five new job openings will be in the skilled trades.

Our skilled trades system was neglected under the previous Liberal government. In fact, that’s why today the average age of an apprentice in our province is 29. But we’re changing that.

That is why, this fall, we’re hosting skilled trades career fairs for the first time in history, to encourage more students in grades 7 to 12 to enter the trades.

Mr. Speaker, as the Premier often says, when you have a job in the trades, you have a job for life. We agree.

Our Skills Development Fund is supporting nearly 400 projects that are helping nearly 400,000 people get the training they need to start rewarding careers close to home. One example is our $3-million investment in the Aecon Women in Trades program, which is training 350 women for jobs in construction, as welders, boilermakers, insulators and labourers.

We’re giving women a hand up to purpose-driven careers in the trades because it’s true that we need all hands on deck to build a stronger Ontario.

Through you, Speaker, to the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development: The skilled trades are vital for the communities in my riding of Sarnia–Lambton and across Ontario. Right now, we have a shortage of skilled tradespeople across this province. We need their highly valued and specialized skills to continue to build this province—and my community, of course. Every unfilled job in the skilled trades represents unmet economic potential. Our government needs to take further action now to address the skilled trades shortage.

What is our government doing in response to the skilled trades shortage in Ontario?

While our government is making gains to help prepare young people for in-demand careers, there’s still more we can do. Many local employers have job vacancies and work opportunities that must be filled.

As part of the skilled trades shortage, there’s still a prevailing stereotype that these jobs are only for men.

My question is once again to the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development: How is our government showing leadership to increase female participation in the skilled trades?