This question is for the Minister of Education.

Speaker, students are heading back to school today across most of our province, and I think I speak for—

Interjections.

Public health experts are warning of another fall wave of COVID-19, but this time, most of the health measures that were in place will not be there.

Speaker, the government’s inaction led to schools being closed longer in Ontario than anywhere else.

Can the minister remind us of how many weeks schools were closed and assure families that things will be different this time?

Vaccination is absolutely critical to ensuring that kids can learn uninterrupted—

Interjections.

Interjections.

Among kids five to 11, less than 40% have had both first shots of the COVID vaccine. This weekend, in Ottawa, Dr. Kaplan-Myrth and volunteers held another successful Jabapalooza event. They helped get 355 kids a back-to-school booster.

While communities are taking matters into their own hands, what’s this government’s plan to boost vaccine coverage for our students?

Last year, we know that this government ended up spending $900 million less on education than they committed. Will the government commit today to spend every single cent in education on keeping our schools safely open?

My question is for our excellent Minister of Education. Millions of students across all of Ontario are returning to school today and tomorrow. Mr. Speaker, I want to note that three of my own kids are starting today in grades 3, 4 and 5. All of these students are so excited with the promise of a normal school year for the first time in nearly two years. Parents, like my wife and I, know how difficult it has been, and we know that COVID-19 has caused so many disruptions for our students and made it very difficult for a normal school year for them.

Studies have shown that in every jurisdiction, students’ math scores have declined sharply. Schools have also played an important role in their social lives as well—something that our children have been missing. There is no substitute for in-person learning and a disruption-free learning environment for our students.

Speaker, can the Minister of Education please outline our government’s plan to ensure that our kids can catch up, and outline the supports that are in place for Ontario students to ensure that they can succeed?

With nearly 840,000 students riding school buses every day, many experts say that our students are most at risk when they are travelling to and from school. Studies show that improvements to school bus lighting systems will greatly improve visibility and safety for our students when they are entering and exiting school buses. That is why our government has been calling for the improved eight-lamp, amber-red warning systems to be installed on all of our Ontario school buses. This will help drivers know further in advance of when school buses are slowing down and stopping, which is a crucial factor in increasing school bus safety for our students.

Speaker, can the minister please update this House on the status of the implementation of the eight-lamp, amber-red warning systems on our Ontario school buses here in Ontario to keep our kids safe?

I do want to thank the member from Sault Ste. Marie for being an exceptional member, a proud father and someone who, like our government, believes in public education. When we saw these students return to school this morning—and more will return tomorrow—it underscores what we’re here to do in the first place, which is ensure children learn the necessary skills to help them succeed in life.

This year, children will be returning to a modernized curriculum that is actually in line with the labour markets, that when they graduate, they can get a good-paying job: a new science curriculum and a new math curriculum that focus on the transferrable skill sets that are going to help them get from the classroom to the boardroom to the shop floor.

The full experience of learning that we envision for kids starts with them staying in school, and we’re going to fight to ensure kids stay in uninterrupted, in-person learning right to June.

Speaker, the problem though, in working with the member from Kitchener–Conestoga, the Minister of Transportation and others, is that we know there are literally hundreds and hundreds of drivers a day blowing past a school bus that is stopped, violating the law. It puts so many children at risk, and we’ve seen this in all of our communities. So the province of Ontario has moved forward with the Safer School Buses Act, which ensures that all school buses in the province now have the new eight-lamp amber-red warning system, designed to create more awareness, more caution and ultimately more safety for our kids and for the drivers themselves.

This is positive progress. It builds on a $1.1-billion investment through transportation that is with the aim of getting kids to school, so that they can stay in school right to June.