I’m grateful to advocate for the many hard-working men and women in Niagara West, who make things and make things happen. I’m proud to support risk-takers and visionaries; the entrepreneurs who see opportunity and seize it, creating good jobs for so many in the communities of Niagara West.

Speaker, I wish to share with the House two special success stories in the manufacturing and food processing sectors from my riding, both out of the town of Smithville in West Lincoln. In August, I was joined by the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry in Smithville to congratulate the Vrugteveen family and leadership team at Niagara Pallet on a successful grant through the Forest Sector Investment and Innovation Program. Our government is investing $1.8 million to help Niagara Pallet expand its production facility and install pallet-making equipment. This will increase the company’s sales by 46% and create 30 new jobs.

Two weeks ago, I announced provincial funding through the Strategic Agri-Food Processing Fund for Highland Ridge in Smithville. The growing meat-processing company is receiving up to $1.7 million to increase processing capacity. This project will include construction of an 18,000-square-foot facility and installation of meat-processing equipment, including slicers, scales, metal detectors, smokehouse, grinders and mixers. Through the hard work of the de Jonge family and the Highland Ridge team, this new site will create over 20 new jobs for Niagara.

We are focused on restoring one of Ontario’s historic strengths: our manufacturing sector. With investments like these, more good paying jobs in Niagara West are on the way.

Today I’m proud to rise in support for the third reading of Bill 79, the Working for Workers Act, 2023. Madam Speaker, before I start my remarks, I always like to start by thanking God for giving me an opportunity to serve and giving me the health so that I can come and deliver these remarks.

Thanks to the members of the Indigenous community for taking care of this land for thousands of years and allowing us to meet here. Thank you to all the immigrants who came before me and all of us, and thank you for the hard work building our beautiful country.

Thanks to the residents of Mississauga–Malton for giving me an opportunity to serve. I’m here to be your voice.

Finally, before I start my remarks, Madam Speaker, thanks to my immediate family, my extended family and my staff. Thank you for your continuous support and your sacrifice. This is a hard job, but your support and sacrifice always make me serve Ontarians. Thank you, Leo, for helping me out.

Madam Speaker, we’re talking about Bill 79, and I was listening to the new Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development’s passionate remarks. I was looking at the clock and I was thinking he probably could go and finish the full hour, and that probably would not be enough for what we’re doing working for workers. This is no secret: We’ve reached so far. Thanks to our former minister, Monte McNaughton, for all his amazing work. I used to call him the champion for workers. Thank you, Minister, for all your work. You will be dearly missed.

I truly believe that, if passed, Bill 79 will improve the employment experience for workers, strengthen workplace protections and make our labour force more competitive. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, Working for Workers legislation has already helped millions of workers in our province.

While at the same time I’m proud of these accomplishments, there is still a lot more that needs to be done. That is why, in April, we announced further changes that would add to our success by helping to make Ontario the best place to live, work, raise a family and thrive. Talking about some of the things which we’re doing through this bill, Madam Speaker, is we’re increasing corporate fines under OHSA, another way our government is standing up for workers and providing an ongoing commitment to the health and safety of the workers in Ontario.

Madam Speaker, what we’re doing through this, if passed, is amending the Occupational Health and Safety Act to increase the maximum fine for corporations for committing an offence under the act from $1.5 million to $2 million. This would give Ontarians the highest maximum corporate fines under workplace health and safety legislation in Canada. We’re making sure that we are helping our workers to make sure they’re able to serve the Ontarians. For an example, I’ll give you a quote from the former executive director of the London Abused Women’s Centre, Megan Walker:

“The Working for Workers Act, 2023 provides a strong message to those who exploit migrant workers that they will be held accountable for their actions. Combined with the new powers given to ministry officers to levy penalties of $100,000 to $200,000 for each passport or work permit a business or person withholds, the act provides police with stronger tools to take action. The government is giving migrant workers back their human rights, to have control over their own documents including their passports.”

As a human rights advocate, Madam Speaker, I stand in solidarity with this. Simply put, workplace injuries and deaths should not be a cost of doing business.

Another great example, Madam Speaker, is to address the labour shortage. It is important to ensure internationally trained individuals like me, when we come here to Canada, can register in their regulated professions. That is why we have to make sure that everyone choosing Ontario to build a better life can get to work faster by making additional changes to the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act. We need to remove even more barriers that internationally trained professionals face when seeking registration in regulated professions.

I do remember when I came to Canada—and in fact, one of my colleagues, MPP Sheref Sabawy, talked about it in the past as well. When you come to Canada with your family, you have a choice: Either you work towards your professional licence or you feed your family. Most often, we, as immigrants, tend to feed our family because that’s our first priority. While we’re feeding our family, getting licencing is the second priority. By doing this, what we’re doing is actually losing as a community.

Think about the situation: You have a degree, you have the knowledge, but since you don’t have the licence, you cannot fulfill the jobs out there which are going vacant. You cannot deliver the results which are required, and you actually work at the lower salary. In other words, you have less money for your family and you’re producing less for your nation and you’re giving less taxes that can be used to serve the country.

That is why we are making sure that where regulated professions offer alternatives to Canadian work experience requirements, these alternatives do not create new barriers for our newcomers. We’re proposing further changes to ensure that the applications for different licensing and registration are clear. This work builds on past changes, including prohibiting Canadian experience requirements and removing other barriers that foreign-trained professionals face when seeking registration in our regulated professions. Ontario was the first province in Canada to prohibit regulated professionals from requiring Canadian experience as a qualification for registration, except if an exemption is granted by the minister for the purpose of health and safety.

There are many other things, Madam Speaker, in this bill. But, looking at the time, I would say that I’m calling for all in this House to support the Working for Workers Act, 2023. We must build a stronger Ontario that works for everyone. We must take action now to plan for the future and lead by example. I’m confident in the measures we are outlining, the positions we are taking as Ontario to be the frontrunner in charting the way forward as the workplace and the way we work continue to change. Madam Speaker, by giving workers a better deal, we’re not only protecting them, we’re also attracting more workers to Ontario while ensuring that our economy remains stronger in the years to come.

I wish to all our colleagues: Let’s come together, support this bill and let’s join our hands to build a better Ontario.