Obviously, I think it’s very clear that I’m rising today in opposition to this time-allocation motion, this ramming-through of something that is completely undemocratic, completely unprincipled. The simple fact that this bill has to start off negating the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the fact that it is operating notwithstanding sections 2, 7 and 15 of the highest law of our land, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms; the fact that a lawyer would even stand to support this is shocking. And that it would operate despite the Human Rights Code—I can’t believe we’re even here discussing this heavy-handed, draconian legislation.

We had breakfast this morning here in this great House with the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, and many members from the official opposition were there. However, I don’t believe—and I think we waited for quite some time for any government members, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Colleges and Universities—

Even more shockingly, the Liberal Party showed up. It’s not too long for us to remember Bill 115. In fact, there are many people in the official opposition who woke up to what was happening in our province as a result of the Liberals’ Bill 115, which stripped education workers of their rights under the charter.

That was a very costly, lengthy legal battle, which the Liberal government at the time knew they would lose. But they were able to do it because they figured, “Well, we’ll save a little bit of money now and kick the can down the road.” That’s what this government is doing with Bill 28: They are probably well aware that the Supreme Court is not going to stand for this, but really, it’s not their problem. They’re foisting this upon future generations. They’re pushing that debt down the road.

Around the time of Bill 115—and I should preface, as well, Speaker, that my background is in education—the Premier at the time, Dalton McGuinty, actually came to visit my school. I was working in a library at the time as a teacher-librarian. Interestingly, I had tried to go into the school—it was over the summertime—because, like when the Minister of Education goes to schools, teachers are told to hide in their classrooms, to not come out. They’re not even allowed to go to their cars when he’s coming to make an announcement, because he doesn’t want to speak to educators; he doesn’t want to speak to students.

At that time, as I said, Premier McGuinty visited my library, and he was making an education announcement, because he liked to position himself—he liked to pretend that the Liberal Party supported education despite all of the cuts and underfunding and all of the attacks. He had behind him a bookcase, and from that bookcase they had certain titles removed. I think that speaks to that party’s character and quality, and their ethos, perhaps. They removed Gordon Korman books, for heaven’s sake, Speaker—Gordon Korman, a very famous Canadian author. Books titled—and I kept a record of these—Schooled; Swindle; Chasing the Falconers; Framed; Hunting the Hunter; the entire On the Run series. It really spoke to me at that time. I thought, why would they be so afraid of Canadian titles and a Canadian author? But they were afraid that they were going to be seen that way.

I would posit that this government is afraid of how they’re going to be seen, because I’m well aware that members on the government benches are receiving just as many emails from outraged parents who are upset about the cuts and the underfunding and the mistreatment of people in our education system.

I hope this government will understand—I hope I can explain this in ways that they can understand—that education workers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. Education workers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions. When you attack educators, when you attack education workers, that all falls upon students.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with many, many gifted education workers over my career. I see them giving their all, each and every day, making sure that when a young person comes to them, no matter what is going on, they’re giving them their full attention. But what you’re doing right now is demeaning them. You’re making them question whether this profession is for them.

Quite frankly, Speaker, I can’t blame them for feeling that way. I can’t blame them for feeling like they’ve been kicked in the teeth by this government. We hear over and over again from this government that front-line workers are heroes—which they are—and yet we see legislation which would keep them earning minimum wages. Many will earn less than $20 an hour, and this government is okay with that. This government is okay with attacking the people who give their best each and every single day for our young people so that they grow up and have their best and brightest future.

It should also be mentioned that education workers are a largely female-dominated profession, so this is effectively an attack on women. When we consider Bill 28, as well as Bill 124, these are attacks on women.

What’s also shocking is that this government, who would position themselves as being prudent fiscal managers, are wasting money on this, which will be a costly legal battle. We saw the Liberals with Bill 115, which they lost, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and yet this government, if they just look at the math—it’s no wonder. I would like this government to take the EQAO test, because I don’t think they would do well on it either. Quite frankly, if you took the money you’ve spent on these education coupons that parents never needed, never asked for and never wanted and you paid that to our education workers, you would have a cost savings. Invest in education. It is not a cost—absolutely ridiculous.

So this time allocation motion: They’re just trying to hide things under cover of night. In fact, we’re probably going to end up with a midnight sitting tonight because, quite frankly, this government wants to escape scrutiny. They don’t want people to pay attention. They don’t want people to notice what they’re doing.

I’ve had so many parents reach out in my riding who are concerned about this bribe that they’ve been given by this government: $200 for a student or $250 for a student with disabilities—as if that $50 is somehow going to make everything okay.

I want to quote a couple of people from CBC London in my riding. Robyn Michaud is a member of Western University’s faculty of education, and she’s also a parent, Speaker. She argues that the funding should be put towards hiring and supporting educational assistants, EAs, and other education support workers. I’d like to quote Robyn: “You can’t have a government at the table saying we have no money to give to education workers, then provide all these random payments to parents.... [The provincial government] is not paying them a livable wage, you’re not going to retain the best staff and there’s going to be a massive education crisis.”

I’d also like to quote Trang Bui, who is a parent who has two children in school. Trang says, “Wouldn’t it just be a better decision to take that money and hire EAs? That way, this so-called catch-up plan could be a plan that helps teachers support our students and not put the burden back on parents.”

This is classic bait and switch. They’re telling parents that they support them, but they don’t support their students in schools. It’s absolutely ridiculous that education workers have faced over a decade of wage cuts under the previous Liberal government and this government now. The fact that there’s anyone working in our education system who earns less than $20 an hour is absolutely disgraceful.

As I offer my comments here, it’s funny how many Conservative members are squirming and how many are averting their gazes, how many are looking at their phones with their faces buried because they know all of their constituents are reaching out to them in support of education workers, yet they are denying the fact that people are not happy about this. People want students to be supported in schools.

I think as well that we need to make sure that we are investing in education. I’d like to come back to my comments about education workers being demeaned and degraded and treated poorly by the prior Liberal government and this government now. We’ve heard in this chamber that almost half of education workers are forced to use food banks, that they’re unable to fully support their families—pardon me, a quarter of them are using food banks and that half of them have to not only work a full-time job within the school system but have to take an additional job.

This time allocation motion is clear evidence that this government is unable to bargain, they’re unable to negotiate, and it’s clear evidence that they do not stand for students. As we’ve had so many students visiting this chamber, I think we should ask them if they think that their educational assistants, their administrative staff, the folks who clean our schools, the dietary aides—I think we should ask them if they think that they should be paid a livable wage, or if they think it’s okay that the people who look after them and provide them with their best education should be living in poverty.

Within our education system, one of the reasons I became involved—as I said, my background is in education—was because I saw so many students with special needs and mental health needs falling through the cracks. We had a Liberal government that talked a good game. Premier McGuinty talked about inclusion and how students should all be included—and we absolutely agree on this side of the House that students with special needs and with mental health needs, they belong with their peers—but what they did was that they shoved students into classes without supports. That is not inclusion; that is abandonment.

When it comes to the allocation of educational assistants for students with special needs, it is an absolute nightmare. Learning support teachers have to go appeal to the board and they have to tell the best story. It’s the learning support teachers who tell the best story to the board who receive the most educational assistant lines within the elementary panel. They have to go in and they have to tell the board, “The roof is on fire. We have this many needs, oh, my gosh.” Well, what about those schools who are already completely overwhelmed and completely taxed? What if they don’t tell a good story to the board? What if they don’t receive the funding for educational assistants that they require? Because, quite frequently, that happens.

Students are not funded based upon their individual need; instead, we have this system where the government wants to not abide by their responsibility and not provide each student with what they need, because our funding formula is flawed.

Students are funded the exact same, in a cookie-cutter fashion, and then school boards are provided with a purse with the hopes that they will spend that on the student. But there are two problems here, Speaker: Number one, that problem is that there’s no guarantee that that purse of money will be spent on the student who needs it; and number two, even if it is spent on that student who need needs it, there’s no guarantee it will be spent in an appropriate way—massive flaws. We need to return to a funding model where students are funded based on their need.

In our education system as well, we see that there are supports for students who are at the top of the class and there are meagre supports for students who are struggling. But we also need to consider, what about the students in the middle? What about the students who just need a little bit of extra support? Those of us in the education system, who have spent some time and understand the system, recognize that it wasn’t too long ago that educational assistants used to be able to provide literacy groups for students in the middle, that little bit of extra reading support, numeracy support so those students who might not necessarily put their hands up in class but might need that little bit of a push would get that assistance, and you cannot underestimate how much value that had. But now we have a system where it has been cut and underfunded so deeply there is no chance that those education workers will get the chance to meet with those students, because they’re, quite frankly, running back and forth between classrooms like their hair is on fire.

We see classes that will frequently have students who should not be in the same room, but they’re put together so that they can share an EA, because this government is too cheap to pay what these educational assistants are worth and what students are worth by not putting enough caring adults into schools. It’s ridiculous.

I will also remember as an educator that we would often hear “code yellow” over the PA system, and that was a code for educators. That code yellow: “Lock your doors. There’s something in the hallway, and the students are in danger.” So we would lock the doors. We would tell the students who might be desperate to use the washroom, “Sorry; you can’t go anywhere.”

Speaker, what you would hear coming from the hallway would be an absolute nightmare. I’ll never forget a student being dragged from the school, kicking and screaming and swearing. And it wasn’t that student’s fault; let’s be clear here. That student had needs that were not being met, and they were not receiving the funding that they deserve and require. But because of that, education for every single student was impacted. How can you tell a bunch of eight-year-olds, “Never mind all that cursing and swearing, which is horrible and awful to hear. Go back to learning. Pay attention, concentrate, smile. Everything is okay”?

What this government also fails to recognize is the amount of violence that education workers are subject to in the workplace. Some have to attend and look after students who abuse them. Many of them have to wear Kevlar body suits; they have to wear armour. That is on this government. You are not providing the funding to make sure that not only students are safe but education workers are safe.

Education has been cut to the bone. This time allocation legislation to push through this undemocratic, terrible piece of legislation is something that we should all oppose.

I urge this government: Listen to the front lines. Listen to students. Do not ram through this legislation. Pay education workers what they’re worth. Make sure that you’re providing those caring adults who are in our schools—that you’re treating them with the respect that they deserve. And do you know what happens? That will filter through into the best learning environment for our students, and we’ll all benefit, because one day they will be looking after us. I shudder to think what this will do to them when they know that they have a government that is attacking those caring people in their schools.