It’s my pleasure to rise today to say how much I enjoyed marching in the Labour Day parade yesterday with Minister McNaughton and some of my colleagues, and to speak about something on the minds of a lot of people today—especially parents, educators and children—and that’s back to school.

The first day of school is always a challenging time, a time to say goodbye to parents—at least for the day, anyway—and to say hello to friends old and new. This year is of particular importance, as we want all Ontario students to have a normal school year with the full school experience, including extracurriculars like sports, clubs, band and field trips.

Some children in my riding of Eglinton–Lawrence will have another surprise waiting for them. Thanks to an investment by the Ministry of Education, the children at Sir Sandford Fleming public school will enjoy a $7.5-million completed renovation when they open the doors tomorrow. The project includes 88 new child care spaces and five child care rooms. This is part of our government’s investment of $14 billion over 10 years to build new schools, improve existing facilities and create good child care spaces. These investments, along with historic investments in mental health and in tutoring, will help to ensure that young people can get back on track and reach their full potential.

I want to wish all the students, educators and parents in Eglinton–Lawrence and across the province a great first day of school.

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?

This question coming from a member who would have closed schools the entire school year—they have no credibility.

But where this government—what we seek to follow is the advice of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, who said just last week, “I am confident that this school year will be just that: safe and healthy.”

Mr. Speaker, I joined the member from Mississauga Centre this morning at a brand new school built and funded by our Premier in Mississauga. To see these kids smile again, to see them share with their educators, get a hug from their teacher, high-five their friends—it was everything. It’s what we’re here to do in education: to inspire these kids to believe again in a publicly funded education and to actually be kids with their friends.

This school year is going to be more normal, it’s going to be more stable and it’s going be much more enjoyable. As the Minister of Health noted, the extracurriculars and sports, the mental health lift, the tutoring investments—all of this is designed to get these kids back on track.

Mr. Speaker, we’re excited for these kids. This is why we’re here: to get them on track with their studies after two years of difficulty, and we owe it to all of them as a Parliament to come together to ensure that they stay in school without interruption right to June.

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?