It’s great to be back in the Legislature. I hope everybody has had a wonderful summer. I know for myself it was full of meaningful community events and a chance for me to connect with my constituents and hear from them on what matters most to them. Over the last few months, I met with many people in Brampton East, and residents have had great conversations on various topics. However, the one that stood out was mostly in regard to the rising crime rates and the need for greater bail reform.

Speaker, in April of this year, our government announced a $112-million investment towards the development of violent-crime bail teams, which included funding to upgrade technology, provide prosecutors with additional resources for complex bail hearings and bolster support for the OPP repeat offender parole enforcement squad.

Despite our government’s great work thus far, we collectively need to do more. As parliamentarians are back in session across the country, I urge our federal members to make the necessary changes and push forward with meaningful bail reform. It’s important that all governments work together to make Ontario a safe place for all residents to live, work and play.

Speaker, our government and our premier will always work hard to keep Ontarians safe, healthy and prosperous. I look forward to our government’s continued efforts to urge the federal government to collaboratively achieve strong and meaningful bail reform.

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?