None.

The member from Mississauga–Malton spoke eloquently about regulated professions and recognizing qualifications that come from outside Canada, and this bill propose to do exactly that. It states, “A regulated profession may accept Canadian experience in satisfaction of a qualification for registration only if it also accepts alternatives.”

Does the member support that, and will he vote for it?

Thank you so much to my colleague from Sudbury for the very thoughtful remarks on this bill. I always learn so much when our labour critic speaks.

I especially appreciated the fact that the member from Sudbury shared so many facts right now about workers’ demand for food banks. It’s something that we’re seeing in Ottawa West–Nepean, where the local food bank had to add Saturday hours because people who are at work full-time Monday to Friday need to access the food bank on Saturdays.

One of the things that’s driving this, of course, and one of the most vulnerable categories of workers, are people who are working, but they’re seeing their wages withheld in part or in full by their employers, who are not paying the wages that they’re owed. We’ve seen the number of inspections taking place by this government drop precipitously. They’re not enforcing orders when orders are made. In fact, only one third of workers are actually getting wages that are being withheld by their employers.

Does the member not agree that a government that was actually interested in working for workers would actually crack down hard on wage theft?

To the member opposite, thank you very much for your speech. Something we’ve noticed is that, with so many immigrants coming into our province—and we know that we do need more people coming in to fulfill the jobs that are going unfulfilled. I’m sure you can agree that, when it comes to credentialing, it is important that workers’ credentials are recognized here in Ontario because we know this is a critical way of ensuring that when people come here, they can get to work now and in their specific field, as well. Our proposal includes several measures that will help clarify existing legislation and help people start to work in their appropriate field.

My question to you is, do you agree that this is a move in the right direction and it will help address our province’s labour shortage in these critical sectors?

I appreciate the member opposite talking about these members. We talked about this in the bill, the importance of having supports for these members so they don’t lose pay when they’re gone, so they don’t lose their benefits when they’re gone. That’s what I’m talking about. I said several times in the bill and previously in second reading of the bill that this is a headline bill. This isn’t really about helping people. It’s the bare minimum you can do to help somebody.

What I’m saying is that I also believe that reservists are an important part of our society, and the work they do is very valuable. I have friends in the reserves. I think what they do is honourable, and I’m very proud of people like John. But the reality is, I think we can do better than what they’re offering here, and we should be doing better.

This is about people’s credentials being recognized. I have to tell you that there is no stronger advocate in this room whom I’ve ever spoken with than the member from Scarborough Southwest. We have regular meetings as part of the labour file and looking at this. It’s shameful—I believe my colleagues feel the same way—that people come over here with credentials—and I’m talking about doctorates or tradespeople—and aren’t able to find work or able to do the work that they’re so successful in. And we need to build a faster pathway for them to get the credentials they need to fill those jobs.

On something like this, I’m aligned on it 100%. I know that we need people to come here and be new Canadians. I’m thrilled with everyone who chooses Sudbury as their home. And I want them to be as successful as they can be, as quickly as they can be.

I want to thank again the member for Scarborough Southwest for all of her advocacy and passion on this file.

Look, the reality is, a lot of these workers whose wages are being stolen from them by their employer are not well-paid to begin with. Every dollar is very, very important and goes much further to them. Why a Conservative government would say they’re working for workers but won’t help address wage theft from employers makes no sense to me at all. And I 100% agree with the member from Ottawa West–Nepean that we should be focusing on this. Workers work hard and they deserve every single dollar that’s coming to them.

This weekend, I was at an event. It was called Seize the Day, with Epilepsy Southwestern Ontario. It was a run and a walk to raise money for people who had epilepsy. One of the participants recognized a nurse when they were in the ER room. They were complimenting the nurse on how well they were looked after. This government rewards nurses on the front lines with passing Bill 124.

Speaker, I’ve been hearing throughout the province that they need to repeal Bill 124. I send out newsletters like many of the other members here, and I’m still getting replies back. “Yes, I support MPP Teresa Armstrong in her call to invest in Ontario’s health care system,” because they want to take the money that this government is spending on court fees and want it to be invested in health care. My statement says to them, “Would you rather spend the money on an appeal—a ruling on Bill 124—or could this be invested in health care to expand access, reduce long wait times and hiring more staff?”

Why is this government digging their heels in to continually fight in court and not respect workers and repeal Bill 124?

Questions?

All right. That’s what I’m talking about. Thank you, guys.

And thank you, Madam Speaker, for the time here. It’s an honour to speak to this legislation, the Working for Workers 3 legislation, a three-peat, as I might call it in my WhatsApp group chats.

Before I begin, I just want to welcome colleagues on both sides back to the session. Man, what a privilege it is to serve in this House with all of you. I’ve given a lot of speeches over the summer at a lot of events but there’s a different energy when you are speaking in this place. Thank you to my constituents again for sending me here to be their voice.

Getting back to business and talking about the business that our government does so well, which is working for workers: The proposed amendments—

Interjections.

The proposed amendments in this bill will help position Ontario as the most competitive jurisdiction in North America. To be honest, Speaker, with the rate at which people are choosing to come to Ontario increasing every month, I’m sure we’re not going to be looking at being the most competitive in North America for very long—we’re tackling the world and we’re tackling the global stage in a major way.

In Brampton, where I’m from, nearly 58% of the total population is involved in the labour force. In 2021, Brampton residents represented 10.6% of the GTA labour force and 4.8%, almost 5%, of the entire labour force across Ontario. That’s almost 2% of the Canadian labour force, all within the city of Brampton. I’d say that Brampton is a small city with a big heart, but frankly, the once forgotten city is actually the ninth largest in the entire country, and we are growing; we’re growing rapidly, Madam Speaker. The 2021 census count had a total population of 656,480 in Brampton, which is an increase of 10.6%, or 62,842 people, from the 2016 census. You compare that 10% growth to the national average of 5.2%, or you compare that to the provincial average of 5.8%. My city of Brampton, our population, our workforce is growing at double the speed of anywhere else in the country.

Speaker, in the same time as the population grew by 10.6%, the labour force grew by 11%. Not only are we punching above our weight in terms of population growth, but a disproportionate amount of the newcomers in Brampton are actually participating in the workforce. When we talk about working for workers, there’s not a better place to share that message and a place where that message is better received than the city of Brampton. And all to say that Brampton is not small. Brampton is a big, growing place, a booming place, despite the fact that we had been ignored by the previous Liberal government for 15 years. But our government is getting it done for Brampton. We’re getting it done for every single worker inside of its borders and out. Speaker, this bill, particularly, that we’re debating today enhances the employment experience, builds a more competitive labour market and it protects vulnerable workers.

Brampton is home to a significant percentage of the province’s workforce, but we also have the fifth-largest new-Canadian population in Canada and the third-biggest newcomer population in Ontario. There are over 250 different cultural origins and 171 different spoken languages reported in Brampton in the 2021 census. Over half of our population was born in another country. That’s something that fills me with pride. Brampton is home to hard-working, good people who came to this country in search of a better life.

Over the summer, I had the pleasure of meeting directly with so many of these Brampton North residents who told me about their story. Sometimes, their story coming to our country to live the Canadian dream was one of desperation. Other times, it was a story of opportunity. But one thing each and every story had in common was trust. They had trust in Canada, trust in Ontario, that they would find a home where they can live a life that they dreamed of.

Speaker, I can’t tell you how many people we met over the last summer who took the leap of faith to leave their place of birth and bring their dream, fuelled by hope, to our beautiful city. We’re very lucky that they chose to do so. Being a Brampton boy, born and raised, I couldn’t even imagine leaving my life behind and moving somewhere else and picking up and bringing my family along with me and starting over again in another country.

Thanks to the work of the Minister of Labour and our former Minister of Labour and our Premier and our government, the PC caucus, we’re ensuring that new Canadians receive opportunities that put them in a position to succeed in this province. Frankly, as we’ve heard, and we’ll hear more in the session, with the economic development we’re going as a province, there’s plenty of opportunity for new Canadians to succeed.

Speaker, I would like to talk a little bit about Ontario’s labour shortage, which our government has been fighting hard to reduce while managing the unprecedented housing crisis. We have a labour shortage of about 400,000 jobs that are unfilled right now that are waiting for the workers to come and fill. In order to continue to welcome new Canadians and young Canadians to fill those roles, we also have to make sure they have a place where they can afford to live, which is why we’re building 1.5 million homes by 2031.

Despite thousands of jobs going unfilled every day, only one in four newcomers are working in the field they trained for, which is a total injustice. It boggles my mind. One of the troubles we have at Queen’s Park is we look at big statistics. We hear “400,000 unfilled jobs.” That’s a massive number, and you think, “How could that be when—on the anecdotal, on-the-ground level—I had lunch at Montana’s three weeks ago, I saw three separate newcomers coming in with résumés, trying to get service positions?”

How can we have 400,000 unfilled jobs, but we don’t have enough jobs for the people that we do have in Brampton? Addressing that disconnect is something that our government is taking charge on. It’s something that we’re leading on. Quite frankly, colleagues, it’s something that we have to get right.

We’ve started the work and we’re leading the country by recognizing foreign credentials. We banned Canadian work experience requirements, we’ve streamlined language testing and we’ve mandated processing times. Last year, our government invested an additional $15.1 million over the next three years to improve and expand our Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. We’ve increased how many people we’re nominating since 2021 by 100%; we’ve doubled it from 9,000 to 18,000 in 2025. All of these actions have one goal: to get people working in the fields that they are trained for faster so they can earn bigger paycheques for themselves, have the life they dreamed of when they’ve left their home and, frankly, benefit existing Ontarians by growing our economy and increasing our wealth creation as a province.

I think some of the most important aspects of our Working for Workers plan are the strides being taken to advance credential recognition. Our government is proud that Ontario is a destination for many newcomers who have come here for a better life. Frankly, newcomers create businesses in our communities. They fill much needed roles in our society. They spark our entrepreneurial spirit. According to statistics, about a third of our labour force came to Ontario from another country. Brampton, particularly my community, has benefited tremendously from this.

Speaker, in 2016, only one quarter of internationally trained immigrants in regulated professions were working in jobs that matched their level of qualification. With that number of 400,000 jobs that are unfilled across the province, that’s costing our economy billions in lost output, not to mention the dreams that are being cost by newcomers working in a field different than the one that they trained for. We are working to create a clear path for them to fully apply their skills and introduced proposed changes that would, if passed, help remove barriers for newcomers to get licensed and find jobs that match their qualifications and skills.

Reducing newcomer unemployment and helping them find good jobs could increase Ontario’s GDP by $12 billion to $20 billion in each of the next five years. These changes would build on the work the province is already doing to help highly skilled internationally trained immigrants find work in their field of expertise. Our government previously announced that we’re investing $68 million to help internationally trained immigrants access programs designed to bridge their experience with the needs of employers in their community. This would impact 23 trades and 14 professions, such as lawyers, engineers, architects, plumbers, electricians, accountants, hairstylists, teachers and early childhood educators, which include a number of professions that not only would help us combat the labour shortage, but are good-paying jobs that will help support their families and support our province as we are continuing to grow and continuing to get it done.

It’s not only about the newcomers that we have yet to get, Speaker; the immigrants that are working currently, we have their backs too. For example, we’ve put forward legislation that would include strengthening protections for vulnerable workers by establishing the highest maximum fines in Canada for employers and recruiters who are convicted of taking possession of or retaining a foreign national’s passport or work permit.

Imagine you’ve come to Canada with the dream of a better life, and your employer is weaponizing your paperwork and your documentation to drive an outcome. We have established the highest fines for these wrongful employers. It’s an unfortunate practice that has been going on for far too long, and our government is taking a stand to protect these vulnerable people. With this, individuals convicted of taking possession or retaining passports or work permits under EPFNA would be liable to either a fine of $500,000 or 12 months of imprisonment, or both, and corporations convicted of the same offence would be liable to a fine of up to $1 million.

To protect all workers, Ontario is also proposing to increase the maximum fine for corporations convicted of an offence under the Occupational Health and Safety Act from $1.5 million to $2 million, which would give Ontario the highest maximum corporate fine under workplace health and safety legislation in Canada. This expands on the groundbreaking action our government has already committed to under Working for Workers 1 and Working for Workers 2 in 2021 and 2022, which are already helping millions of people.

Speaker, I would also like to touch on our government’s mission to get more people into the trades. Speaking of the 400,000 unfilled jobs that we have, that’s almost 100,000 unfilled jobs in the construction sector over the next 10 years alone, which are exciting careers, in demand, with good pay and good benefits. This is part of the reason why our government is investing a historic $1.5 billion over four years into the skilled trades. For years, the skilled trades were neglected. One in three journeypersons are over the age of 55 and retiring soon, and the average apprentice is about 29 years old.

Last year, we launched Skilled Trades Ontario, a new crown agency that will promote the trades; develop the latest training and curriculum standards; provide a streamlined one-window approach for services such as registration, credentials and exams; and deliver programs.

Our government is dedicated to work with labour and businesses to break the stigma around the trades, simplify the path to becoming a journeyperson and encourage employers to take on apprentices. We’re empowering the everyday person to shift toward a job that will reward and empower them like they would not believe, and encouraging the next generation to get involved sooner.

We’re implementing a new high school graduation requirement to help better prepare students across our province for the jobs of tomorrow. Starting with students entering grade 9 in September 2024, only a year away, all students will now be required to earn a grade 9 or 10 technological education credit as part of their Ontario secondary school diploma, which will help expose them to a course that could help guide them to a future career in a highly skilled workforce, which can lead to better outcomes, better jobs and bigger paycheques for our young people.

Speaker, with more than 100,000 unfilled skilled trades jobs right now, it’s critical that Ontario attracts more young people to pursue a fulfilling, good-paying career in the trades. It’s okay to not be a lawyer or a doctor—or a politician.

As well, very soon, students in grade 11 can transition to a full-time skilled trades apprenticeship program and earn their high school diploma. This change means that students can enter the skilled trades faster than ever before.

Additionally, our government is undertaking consultations starting this fall with employers, unions, educators, trainers, parents and others on how make it easier for young people to get into the trades. With the generational gap that we have, with the infrastructure shortage we have, and with the work that we need to get done, this is work that our government needs to get right. We need to get it right as a province. The consultations will explore the potential of altering academic entry requirements for certain skilled trades in Ontario to allow students to enter the trades sooner.

Since 2020, Ontario has invested nearly $1 billion to make it easier to learn a trade, breaking the stigma, attracting youth, simplifying the system and encouraging employer participation.

Speaker, our government also recognizes the evolution of the workplace for many Ontarians. We are working for workers by proposing updates to employment laws that would respond to more workers being remote, and a changing economy. Under the proposed changes, employees who work solely from home would be eligible for the same enhanced notice as in-office employees in mass termination situations, which would ensure that remote employees receive the same eight-week minimum notice of termination or pay in lieu, which protects workers and prevents companies from taking advantage of people.

The COVID-19 pandemic initiated the largest shift to remote work in history. In the fourth quarter of 2022, about 2.2 million people worked from home, with about 1.4 million doing so on an exclusive basis and about 800,000 doing so on a hybrid basis. I want to assure all of those workers who are working from home, who have shifted, that our government has your back.

We also have the backs of our men and women in uniform, the way that they’ve had our backs all along, and we’re introducing new job protection for injured military reservists. Of the 40,000 Canadian soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, nearly one in seven developed a mental disorder attributed to the mission. That’s based on stats that we know were reported. We know the stigma around mental health; never mind what’s under-reported. Frankly, that number is probably bigger than one in seven. These brave men and women put their lives on hold to protect our freedom. They deserve the peace of mind that their job will not only be protected when they’re away but also that they have the time that they need to recover.

Our government is working for workers by introducing new legislation that would guarantee military reservists can return to their civilian jobs after deployment, even if they need additional time off to recover from physical or mental injuries.

In addition, Ontario would be the first province in Canada to provide job protection to reservists who respond and deploy to domestic emergencies immediately after starting a new job. Our proposed change would make reservists eligible for job-protected leave when deploying abroad or upgrading their military skills after just two months, as opposed to the current three.

Speaker, one of the last points I want to touch on is what our government is doing for another group of heroes in Ontario. Of course, I’m talking about first responders, our brave firefighters. One of the stats that was shocking to me to learn about, and I know we’ve spoken about it in the House, is firefighters die of cancer at a rate up to four times higher than the general population. On average, 50 to 60 firefighters die of cancer yearly in Canada, and half of those are from Ontario. I think everyone here today has a personal story when it comes to cancer. Our brave firefighters run into danger, putting their own lives at risk. It is about time they receive the support that they deserve.

That’s why our government is making it faster and easier for these heroes and their families to access compensation and support they are entitled to. Proposed changes would presume thyroid and pancreatic cancers to be work-related and streamline the assessment of workplace injury claims. I also want to highlight, Speaker, that these changes made to claims related to thyroid and pancreatic cancers would be retroactive to January 1, 1960. Firefighters have a proud history of putting their necks on the line for Ontarians and they deserve a government that’s willing to put the government’s neck on the line for them.

Speaker, this bill is building on our government’s tireless efforts to protect the most vulnerable and increase opportunities for success while combatting our urgent labour shortage and housing crisis. And we are seeing results. More and more people are being connected to the support they need; it is changing their lives. Their commitment and dedication, however, when all is said and done, is truly what matters, and that is what defines the work that we are doing—workers coming together to build our province to the next level.

Ontario is growing every day. We are developing our infrastructure, our employment opportunities every day. We have exciting projects like the Bradford Bypass, like Highway 413, like the Ontario Line, like the 50 hospitals that are currently either being built or being renovated across Ontario, like the 1.5 million homes that we’re building over the next 10 years. There is no shortage of opportunity in Ontario. We want to assure all workers that while they have our back and have the people’s back by doing the important work, their government has their back too. And I believe that’s what this bill is doing. As we grow every day in strength and size, it’s our labour force serving as the backbone of this province, and our government has every worker’s back.

This is a very, very good bill which is going to improve the lives of workers across Ontario, not only this year but for decades to come. I certainly will be intending to vote for it myself, and I hope all my colleagues do as well.

Further debate?

Interjections.

I mentioned earlier in a response about the need for us to recognize the qualifications people have when they come here from other countries, and that if there are certain things we have to adjust so that we hit the right threshold, there should be a way to fast-track them. So, 100%, I think that’s an important issue as well.

The problem, though, Speaker, is that in these bills—and we hear it all the time, and I’ve got to tell you, it’s frustrating. People in my community tell me all the time. You put forward a bill with a poison pill in it, and maybe not this one specifically, but time and time again, there’s a bill and part of the bill is pretty good and part of it has stuff that no one would be able to support. Then what the Conservative government loves to do, Speaker, is point at the good part of the bill and say, “This is what the member voted against.” Let’s not do that anymore. Let’s not play games. Let’s have bills that actually help people. Let’s pull out the poison pills from them. It doesn’t make sense; it’s a nonsense thing. Honestly, if you think somebody, at the door, believes that I don’t support long-term care or whatever your nugget is—come on, let’s just get back to reality.

I listened to my friend from Brampton North intently. I have a question for him, given the intent about Working for Workers. There’s another bill before this House that would seem to suggest the government’s commitment to this may be a little fickle. I’m thinking about transit workers, the people who were there to move us around in the middle of the pandemic, who put themselves at risk, who are facing situations of violence on our transit system all the time—and we’ve talked about that in this place. Schedule 1 of Bill 131 before this House allows the TTC here in the great city of Toronto to enter into agreements with other regional transit authorities where the collective agreement signed with employees in those transit systems would not apply.

Can the member from Brampton North clarify if he believes in the value of collective bargaining agreements, if he believes that those collective bargaining agreements negotiated in good faith with employers in transit should remain in force in any transit arrangement this government comes up with?

Questions?

I want to thank my colleague for the question and also commend him on riding a bike here from Ottawa. It’s remarkable. I don’t think I would ever have the courage to do it, or the physical endurance or the mental endurance and all kinds of things. That’s on the Hansard now, so that’s there forever. I don’t think that’s a position I’m going to flip-flop on. I commend my colleague on that.

I do want to take the chance to highlight—in Brampton, we have some of the best transit workers you could ask for. While municipalities across Ontario saw ridership go down during the pandemic, we were actually the first city to bounce back, and now we’re at 120% of our old ridership, because of the front-line workers who work in my city.

So we’re always going to stand up for transit workers. They deserve to feel safe in their community, and our government will continue—

What I can say is, we’ve got a—

Interjections.

Look, we’ve got to stand up for our first responders. We’ve got to stand up for workers and that’s exactly what we are doing. I really hope that this member will come out in support of—I haven’t seen the member’s supportive statement about the changes we made about thyroid and pancreatic cancers, retroactive back to 1960. I haven’t heard the member say whether or not the member believes that’s a good idea, but I hope the member will stand with the PC caucus in banging that drum and making sure that we’re standing up and giving the firefighters the respect that they deserve. So I hope the member will stand up for them in her community as well and do that as well.

Our government put forward a really ambitious agenda about building highways, building transit, right? We see the historic investment of the Highway 413 in my community. That’s going to be revolutionary for residents in my community, not only the residents that drive to work and drive home every day, but for our truck drivers who—talking about front-line workers, our truck drivers are heroes just the same. You think about the 50 hospitals: The Premier says that it doesn’t matter what corner of Ontario you’re in, you’re either getting a new hospital or you’re getting a renovation on your existing hospital. Well, all of these things that we’re building are going to need workers to do that.

And I think I got heckled by the Windsor member. I think she’s mad she voted against the hospital in her riding, in her part of the world, but she also voted against the Brampton one, in my part of the world, too, so I guess there’s nothing new there. But look, we need more people in the trades. Our government’s investing to do that—

I want to thank my colleague for his comments. I was particularly interested in the comments about the trades programs and the fact that the average age for people entering the trades is 29 because, in fact, my oldest son, Dylan, has just gone back to Georgian College for precision machining. So he’s one of the many that have gone into the trades now and will have, I think, a long and fruitful career.

What I’d like my colleague to speak to is the benefits of these programs, not only for the youth and those going into the trades, but also for our province and our economy.

The member talked about our first responders and our firefighters and presumptive legislation, but I want to be perfectly clear: That is not in this bill. You can talk about it, but it’s not in the bill.

My cousin was Captain Craig Bowman. We tabled a bill here called the Captain Craig Bowman law that would ensure that first responders were protected. He was denied. He died from esophageal cancer. He was denied because he was a firefighter for 23 years, not 25 years. Our bill would amend that law to make sure that more firefighters and their families would get the support that they needed, and I think it’s really disrespectful for you to talk about this when it is clear this is not in the bill.

My question to the member is, will you support our private members’ bill, the Captain Craig Bowman Act?

I want to thank my colleague from Brampton North for his presentation. My riding is not unlike his, in many aspects. I have a lot of new people moving into the riding, and in some of those cases they come to the riding with qualifications that are not necessarily Canadian-based. Part of this legislation that we’re debating today—well, under the old rules, they don’t have the Canadian qualifications so they couldn’t work in the skill that they’re qualified for. Under this proposed legislation, we’re proposing changes to those rules to recognize qualifications that were obtained outside of Canada. I’d like the member from Brampton North to talk about what the effect of this legislation is in his riding—because, again, not unlike mine, it’s very multicultural.

Women.

OPSEU.

It’s a privilege for me to stand up today. I actually watched some of the debate on TV. I listened to the debate. I want to say that I’m really glad that the new minister is here so he can listen to this debate.

But I found it interesting that today, our first day back in this House after four months, this is the bill that we’re talking about. We’re not talking about the greenbelt. We’re not talking about the scandals. We’re not talking about the lies. We’re talking about a bill, Working for Workers.

What I don’t understand is that some of the things they’ve talked about over the last little while—the minister talked about it, his three or four other speakers talked about it, my colleagues talked about it, some of my own members have talked about it—but they talk about firefighters as if in some way on this side of the House we don’t care about firefighters. Somehow, you’re trying to make that. Now, that’s a lie. We know that’s a lie. But I’ve got to tell you, Madam Speaker—

Interjections.

So let’s be clear—and I’m going to tell you a story because I think it’s important, because it happens in every community from coast to coast to coast when it comes to our firefighters. Unfortunately, for me and my family, it happened to my wife. She was driving down Lundy’s Lane in Niagara Falls coming home from school. She was a vice-principal. A drunk driver came out of the Sundowner and hit her head on. The first responders were there. The firefighters were there. EMS was there. And if they didn’t go to that call, guess what? My wife would have been dead.

So I don’t like it when you stand up and tell me, “Oh, we’re putting this into a bill about firefighters, because you don’t care about firefighters.” Some of my best friends are firefighters. I attended two events this weekend, one honouring two of our colleagues that passed away this year, and I’ll be here next Sunday for the celebration to talk about it. But Saturday night, I was there for volunteers; we have volunteer firefighters in Niagara. But I’m going to tell you, when you talk about firefighters, you stand up and you say, “It’s in the bill.” I can’t call you a liar because I’ll get called out, but the reality is, it’s not in the bill. It’s not in the bill.

The other part of the bill that you guys talked about, for those watching at home and listening—like I said, I’m glad the minister is here, because you talked about women’s washrooms. I think it’s a good thing. I think the washrooms should be good for women; they should be good for men; they should be good for everyone. I don’t think that’s a bad idea. I think we should take a look at it and make sure they’re clean and how that’s going to be done in every workplace.

But then, not one mention—not by the three who talked after the minister, not by the colleague in the corner who talked—not one mention about Bill 124. By the way, who does it attack?

To the new labour minister, if you really care about firefighters and you really care about women having proper facilities when they get into the trades, what should you do? Maybe my colleagues can help me. What would you think would be a fair and reasonable thing to do?

Madam Speaker, I don’t mean to pick on you at all. I’m just looking at you because I don’t want to get in trouble. I want to make sure I’m doing this right. But here’s the reality: Today, we’re doing a bill, Working for Workers. Everybody agree with that? Everybody on that side agree with that? Guess what we had at lunch today. What did we have at lunch today? About 5,000 workers, from every part of the province. They came from Windsor; they came from the north; they came from Niagara.

Actually, my group from Niagara, do you know why they’re here? A lot of them were senior citizens. It’s because your government has decided to shut down our urgent care centre, so instead of operating 24 hours a day, guess what they’re operating now? Ten. You talk about Ontario growing. Well, Fort Erie is growing. It’s going to have over 40,000 residents. They got on a little yellow bus. You know those yellow buses for schools? We’ve all rode in those. Guess what they don’t have? Washrooms. They were seniors. They had to make a couple of stops on the way. But they came.

You know who else was there? Unfortunately, the minister is not here right now, but I’ve got to say this. Guess who was there? Unifor was there. I talked to their president; I talked to Lana. SEIU was there. They were there in their purple shirts, some in tears. You know who else was there? CUPE. Some of you did an incredible job and have done an incredible job. Nobody ever goes after the health coalition on their facts or their figures. They are so good. The health coalition organized the rally. You know who else was there? Anybody here on my side know?

Interjection: And they weren’t there.

So when I went to the rally—I was fortunate enough to be a labour guy myself for the last 40 years—I ran into a lot of my old friends, whether with Unifor or some in the OFL. Some of them, I got some really nice pictures to put in my scrapbook when I’m not doing this job any longer. Then I listened to our leader, Marit Stiles, get up and do a great speech. Then, because I know the health coalition wants to be fair to everybody, guess who else spoke? The leader of the Green Party got up and spoke. Now, he didn’t have a lot of members with him, because they don’t have a lot of members in the Green Party, but he went up and did a good job. Then the Liberals went up and spoke. I think they were five or six. Their van was all there, for sure. So they got up and spoke.

Madam Speaker, and I’m looking at you directly for this reason: Do you know who didn’t speak on the day that they’re bringing Bill 79, the Working for Workers Act? Guess who didn’t speak: the new minister. He didn’t go and speak. Premier Ford didn’t go and speak. When you have 5,000 workers and all they want to hear from their government is, “We’re not going to privatize health care. We’ve learned our lesson with the greenbelt. We made a mistake”—although I think it was calculated. They knew exactly what it was. It wasn’t a mistake. But we know that when workers, families and communities stand together, we can get the government to back down.

You would think that they’re so proud of their bill—where is it? Oh, here it is. I’ll hold this up. They’re so proud of their bill, on the first day back in this House, where we haven’t sat for over four months—they don’t come and speak to workers. They didn’t speak to the OFL. They didn’t speak to Unifor. Think about that today.

So why do you bring Bill 79 here today and try to say to the province of Ontario, “We’re for workers”? The only party for workers in the province of Ontario is the NDP. It always has been and it always will be. We will not hide, and we’ll be out on that front lawn every time there’s an injustice.

And what were they talking about today? Because again, working for workers—they were talking about sick days, how they need sick days. One of the first bills they attacked as a government was that they got rid of the three days of sick days. Do you guys remember that, when they attacked us?

Anti-scab: This summer, workers have said, “Enough is enough,” including to their own leadership, when they turned down some tendered agreements, saying, “We need a bigger piece of the pie. We need to make sure that if corporations are making a lot of money—sometimes billions and trillions of dollars—we need a share in that enormous wealth.” Do you know why they need it? Does anybody know? They need affordability. They need to buy their groceries. They need it to pay their rent, especially in the new builds; right? Because—Madam Speaker, I think you’re from an area where you know this—the new builds, there’s no rent control on them. They can put those rents wherever they want, and what we’re seeing here in Toronto is $3,100, $3,200, $3,300. So workers deserve to get some of that pie.

I want to say clearly to every single worker in the province of Ontario—union, non-union—that an injury to one worker is an injury to all. I’m saying that to my colleagues in the skilled trades. I’m saying that to my health care workers, to our teachers. I’m saying it to every single worker—EMS, firefighters, police officers—that the only way we win is if we stick together. And don’t get fooled by Bill 79 that they actually care about workers.

I’m going to do this because I think I’m a pretty honest guy—I know that’s unusual in some places sometimes in here, but I’m going to be honest about this, because the new minister, I’m pleased that he’s here. But he was in charge, before he became the labour minister, of the environment—think about that—in one of the biggest scams that we’ve ever had in the province of Ontario, trying to develop on the greenbelt.

And they talk. They talk about immigration. They talk about allowing new Canadians to do the jobs that they’re trained to do here in this country. They talk about young people. You can’t stand up and say that when every single one of you over there supported every single bill to develop on the greenbelt. Because who were you hurting? We know in the province of Ontario today, because we have migrant workers—they’re workers too. We know in the province today, right here in Ontario, mostly around Toronto, we’re losing 329 acres of prime farmland every single day. And who is that going to hurt? It’s going to hurt our kids and our grandkids. Because if we’re a province or a country that can’t feed itself, you’re going to be in trouble.

You would think—to my colleagues who are listening here; I don’t think they’re listening to me anyway. You would have thought that after COVID-19 we would have learned a valuable lesson: We can’t rely on other countries to provide for us.

And where did we see that? We saw that with our PPE. You all remember that? You talk about the military in the bill and doing a little bit for the military; we should do all we can for the military. But remember during COVID what the military had to do, including some of the reservists? They had to go into long-term-care facilities and see the suffering that was going on in those facilities. Some of them had to do it—because they didn’t have PPE. Remember that?

Some people died—right here, my friends; we take it for granted every single day—from dehydration, a simple thing like giving them a glass of water. But they couldn’t give them the water. You know why? They didn’t have any staff, because you brought in Bill 124. You care about workers, yet you attacked workers, and workers left. PSWs left. These places didn’t have any staff.

Most of those, quite frankly—I’d say 80% of the seniors—that died in long-term-care facilities died in private homes. We know that, because what do they care about? Anytime you’re going to take care of a senior, what should it be about? Should it be about profit, or should it be about care? I’m thinking if it’s me, because I’m getting older—it was my birthday yesterday; I got a year older yesterday. Although I did have good news: The Jays won; so did the Bills. That was good for the day. But what do we need to do? We need to make sure our seniors are taken care of, and the military had to go in and expose what was going on.

But to get back to my original point: It was because we were relying on China and some in the States; even the States wouldn’t give us some PPE. We had to start doing it ourselves. The same thing is happening in our farmland. But I’ll get back to the minister. I think it’s important.

Minister, I’m going to look you straight across as I try to look at both of you, because you’re right across from me. Minister, you voted for Bill 124, one of the worst bills that I’ve ever seen. How much time do I got? Three and fifty—almost four minutes. Bill 124 attacked workers, mostly health care workers; some other jobs as well, but it was mostly in the health care sector where they felt it the worst. It capped their wages at 1%—and that included benefits. So the total compensation package at the bargaining table: 1%. If you wanted to improve your benefits, it came out of the 1%.

The “notwithstanding” clause, the next bill, where workers from coast to coast to coast, including from the west to the east, said, “This is the worst attack against workers that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime,” and what happened? The labour movement came together, and they said, “You are not going to do the ‘notwithstanding’ clause in the province of Ontario.” What happened? I know the unions met with Premier Ford. I know they met with—can I say Monte now, because he’s not here? They met with Monte and they said, “You guys have got to come to your senses. You have to back down on that bill.” So you know what happened? The labour movement came together, including the trades—auto workers, steelworkers, health care workers—and the government backed down on the “notwithstanding” clause.

Do you know what else they backed down on just last week? The greenbelt. But make no mistake about it: You’re not done with the greenbelt. There’s a lot more to uncover in that greenbelt—the corruption that went on; find out what the developers knew ahead of time.

I will be honest with you; I’ve never gone with a developer to Vegas. Just in case—I never met one in Vegas. I want to get that off the table.

And then, Bill 60—and I’ll get back to the rally today, because that’s what the rally was about today. The rally today was about standing up for workers from one part of the province to the other. And Bill 60—what does it want to do? It wants to privatize our health care system. Think about that: privatize our health care system—because what does health care become? And some of my colleagues will shake their head at me, but it’s true. What does it become? It becomes that somebody is going to make money on the backs of somebody being sick—and the colleagues over there are shaking their head at me; I can’t say who they are.

I’m going to tell the story about Joel—I guess I can’t say his name, but he’s from Ottawa, and he’ll tell you that at his hospital, doctors rented out their emergency rooms and their operating rooms on the weekends, started their own corporation, utilized their own nurses on the weekends, utilized the publicly funded janitor services to clean the operating rooms. And guess what happened? That corporation is now making money on the weekends. So when you stand there and shake your head—that’s a true story; I don’t make that up. It’s in the paper; you can google it. That’s exactly what has happened in Ottawa, and that’s exactly what’s happening in other communities right across this province.

That’s why 5,000 people who could have been anywhere today—some of them rode on that bus today for six or seven hours, coming from the north, coming from as far away as Windsor—

Interjection.