To the member opposite: I know one of the issues that’s been coming into my office lately has been the terms of work, and this piece of legislation appears to address that, giving basic information to employees about their employment as soon as they begin. Having a written record of what your responsibilities are in terms of work is an important step to ensure that workers know what is expected of them and what the requirements of their employment may be.

Would the member opposite agree with the proposal in the legislation to require employers to provide new hires with information about their terms of employment?

It’s exciting to be back in the House for the fall session and I’m honoured to be standing here today in support of Bill 79, the Working for Workers Act, 2023. I want to thank my colleague the former Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development for asking me to speak in support of this bill—a bill that will reduce labour shortages, address workplace safety and protect the rights of workers. I want to offer additional thanks to the member from Scarborough Centre and the member from Mississauga–Malton for their hard work on this important file.

This bill builds on legislation previously passed in 2021 and 2022 which has tangibly improved the day-to-day lives of Ontario workers. I’m confident that this bill will build on that legacy to create better outcomes for Ontarians across the province.

Legislation previously passed included the right-to-disconnect policy, which allows Ontarians to draw a clear line between work and home life. We also banned a common practice of employers using non-compete clauses, allowing workers greater freedom to apply their skills and advance their careers without fear of reprisal from previous employers. We’ve removed many barriers for internationally trained workers so they can access jobs and master qualifications and skill sets for jobs right here in Ontario. We also require recruiters and temporary help agencies to be licensed as a means of protecting vulnerable workers, which is an issue very close to my heart.

That list certainly isn’t exhaustive by any means, but the positive changes seen here were expanded. We saw the establishment of foundational rights and protections for digital platform workers who provide rideshare, delivery and courier services to all of us; improvements in the level of employer transparency when monitoring electronic devices such as computers and cellphones; and an enhancement of workplace health and safety by increasing the maximum fines for operators and directors of businesses that neglect to provide a safe working environment.

Speaker, over the last few years, our government has done a lot for workers in Ontario, especially those—and those have been very well received by the public, but our work certainly isn’t done yet. Today, I’d like to talk about this third critical piece of legislation which, if passed, will build upon previous legislation in very substantive ways. I’m extremely passionate about this specific legislation because these changes will provide all workers with tangible enhanced benefits. These enhancements will have positive impacts on the broadest spectrum of workers across Ontario and particularly safeguard some of the most vulnerable workers in communities like mine in Chatham-Kent–Leamington and Pelee Island.

As a former OPP officer, I understand the inherent risks and challenges of front-line workers and what they face on a day-to-day basis, particularly those who work in emergency services. Ontario’s volunteer and professional firefighters work tirelessly every day to protect our communities. Firefighters answer a wide range of calls for duty that range from traffic collisions to chemical hazards, building collapses, structural fires and natural disasters. I was so proud of the firefighters I worked alongside from Leamington Fire Services and Chatham-Kent Fire and Rescue and the many professional and volunteer services I encountered all across Ontario. As a member of the OPP’s emergency response team and public order units, I had the privilege of serving in communities large and small all across Ontario. Wherever I went I witnessed the dedicated, selfless, highly trained fire personnel who answered the call of duty at any time, in any weather. These were the people who rushed into danger when others had to flee. On more than one occasion I know that I was able to return home to my family safely because of the efforts of a firefighter.

Nevertheless, this risk comes with great personal risk, both immediate and long-term. Firefighters do have a cancer rate four times higher than the general population. It’s not coincidental. Despite modern personal protective equipment, firefighters can still be subjected to exposure from fire, smoke and a wide range of chemicals that can, over time, cause a number of cancers and other diseases. If passed, this bill will expand the list of presumptive cancers to include thyroid and pancreatic cancer, two of the most prevalent, so firefighters can access the benefits and support services they need and they’re entitled to through the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board. This bill would apply to full-time, volunteer, and part-time firefighters as well as those hired by Indigenous band councils. Most importantly, to ensure no one gets left behind, this legislation, if passed, will be retroactive back to January 1960. Speaker, similar legislation has already been passed in Manitoba, Yukon, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Now it’s our time to support those who support our communities every day.

Our former minister, his parliamentary assistants and their entire dedicated staff conducted extensive stakeholder consultations, and this specific portion of the bill was the number one ask from the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association. This summer we witnessed the bravery, skills and selfless efforts of firefighters who worked across northern Ontario and in communities all across the province to keep Ontarians safe amid some of the most trying conditions. This bill will serve to safeguard thousands of firefighters from across Ontario and create a legacy of support to those who place themselves in harm’s way.

Speaker, another important feature contained in this bill directly addresses the unprecedented labour shortage in Ontario. Presently, Ontario’s employers report that over 300,000 jobs remain unfilled. To deliver on our ambitious infrastructure plans, there are going to be 100,000 construction jobs required to be filled in the next 10 years alone. There is, however, a clear disparity between supply and demand, and we need to act now to fix it.

To address the disparity and to encourage our high school students to pursue stable, high-paying and rewarding jobs in the skilled trades, this bill develops a clear pathway to apprenticeship as early as grade 11. I’ve witnessed first-hand how early exposure to opportunities in the skilled trades can inspire high school students to pursue these in-demand careers, through visits to Blenheim District High School, John McGregor Secondary School, Ursuline College Chatham and my alma mater, Leamington District Secondary School. We saw first-hand the excitement that is building in young people being exposed to and pursuing skills in the skilled trades.

Throughout my riding of Chatham-Kent–Leamington, there is excitement growing because people know we’re making these investments right now. Recently, I was joined by my friend and former colleague the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development to announce an investment of over $460,000 through the Skills Development Fund for 24 youth from Chatham-Kent, providing financial support as they pursue training and apprenticeship in high-demand trades.

To succeed, Ontario employers will need to attract both men and women with a wide range of interests and skills to fill the current and future vacancies, knowing that of the 600,000 people currently working in Ontario’s construction industry, only 10% are women. Most of these jobs were perhaps deemed traditionally male because they were viewed as physical, physically demanding, even dirty. But the reality is, both men and women, with the proper training and mentorship, can succeed in performing the wide range of tasks necessary to have a successful and long career in any one of these trades.

One specific limitation that was identified as being restrictive was access to PPE, personal protective equipment, and other gear that properly fit and could be comfortably worn by a wide range of body types in both men and women. Now, modern equipment is designed, marketed and available to suit men and women in all shapes and sizes. This bill, if passed, will codify this into law to ensure properly fitting PPE is accessible to any man or woman wanting to pursue a career in the trades.

One further modernization to job sites across Ontario that was long overdue and will be remedied if this bill passes is access to clean, women-only washroom facilities. Although it may seem trivial to those not working outdoors in the elements for long periods of time, access to well-maintained, private, gender-specific washroom facilities is a necessary component to attracting and welcoming both men and women to the wide range of jobs available in the trades across Ontario—jobs that anyone can be proud to do to support their families.

This bill, if passed, remedies both issues by requiring that appropriate, proper-fitting PPE is available and provided to both men and women, and that well-maintained, gender-specific washrooms are available on all job sites. To do so, our government will ensure that both men and women feel welcome, feel safe and they’re fully able to participate in these well-paying, stable jobs in industries across Ontario.

Speaker, our competitive advantage and our recipe for our success is to truly grow Ontario through our hard-working people. Working for workers means investing in the training and skills, ensuring all workers feel safe, welcome and protected, and allowing workers to flourish and contribute in a meaningful way to their families and to our economy. The return on this investment will allow our people to grow Ontario. This legislation, if passed, will ensure the most in-demand careers are more attractive and more accessible to all.

Another action this government is taking to address labour shortages and to ensure more Ontarians receive a stable paycheque is expanding social services and helping people find those meaningful careers. Speaker, over 600,000 people in this province are on social assistance programs. Many are seeking to find good, meaningful jobs to support themselves and their families. This bill will tangibly help Ontario job seekers access these very resources by expanding enhanced employment services to London, Windsor-Sarnia, Kitchener-Waterloo, Barrie, Durham and Ottawa.

Employment service programs can be a critical stepping stone for all job seekers to find meaningful careers that match their skill sets and interests. Through job matching and job coaching, a wide range of people—including citizens with disabilities, youth with barriers, and newcomers—can find a fulfilling career that provides them with financial autonomy.

I’d like to note that we unveiled the first round of this program in Peel, Hamilton-Niagara and Muskoka-Kawartha with great success. Already, Speaker, the program has helped 17,000 people, including 5,700 on social assistance programs.

These programs give people the tools they need to gain independence and support themselves and their families.

I look forward to the expansion of all these services across Ontario—for active job seekers to get their first job, apply their skill sets and interests in a different direction, or advance their careers.

In addition to providing Ontarians with easier access to employment, we’re also taking action to ensure employees are protected in the workplace. One of the ways we’re doing so is by ensuring workers have comprehensive employment information at the beginning of their very first shift; this includes a written agreement regarding pay, hours of work, and work location. By doing so, we’re clarifying expectations and obligations both for workers and their employers. Clear, written communication from the outset will create the conditions for a transparent, mutually beneficial working relationship between employer and employee, with better potential for successful outcomes and reduced opportunity for anyone to be taken advantage of.

Although opinions may vary, for better or for worse, COVID-19 led to many changes in our workplaces—particularly where we work. In the latter half of 2022, over 1.4 million workers in Ontario had exclusively remote jobs, and an additional 800,000 worked on a hybrid model, working a portion of their hours at home and the remainder in an office or other workplace. Naturally, these workers deserve the same employee protections that all in-person employees receive, but there is currently a gap in the legislation. An amendment to this bill will ensure that remote workers are afforded all the same opportunities and protections that their in-person counterparts have.

For example, the proposed legislation would require companies to deliver eight weeks of minimum notice of termination and adequate compensation with pay-in-lieu, if necessary. Although it seemed sensational when we first heard about it, we’ve witnessed too many examples of workers across industries—including some of our most prominent tech companies—receiving impersonal, mass notifications of a job loss via a virtual call or even through the media. This is truly unacceptable. As a government, it’s our responsibility to protect workers and ensure they have ample notice of layoffs so that they can be supported and adequately plan for their future. These small changes can make big differences in the everyday lives of any worker in any industry and will prevent workers from being disrupted in providing for themselves and their families.

Speaker, I now move that the question be put.

I’m struggling to find that in the legislation; maybe the member wants to point it out. But I’ll tell you, people are not coming into my office worrying about the terms of work. They’re worrying about actually finding a job that they can afford to work at. You have to be able to earn, like, $30, $35 an hour, minimum, just to be able to pay the rent in the city of Hamilton. If you move into the city of Toronto, you better be making a big whopping paycheque to be able to afford that.

More than hearing from my constituents about terms of reference, I’m hearing about the affordability costs and what that’s doing to their mental health, when they’re struggling each and every day to be able to pay the rent, to get the food on the table, to be able to put gas in the car, to be able to pay the bus fare that it takes for them to be able to even just possibly get to work.

I just need the members opposite to see that everything is connected. People can’t go to work if they don’t have roofs over their head, if they can’t afford food. If we do not support them to actually get into a workforce with safe, affordable housing, we’re setting them up for failure, and that’s only going to provide more money—

I just have to say: I couldn’t be prouder to sit beside the member for Hamilton Mountain. She fights every day for the most vulnerable people in our community, and she lets this government know every day how they’ve let down not just workers with this paltry legislation, but how they failed on the autism file, how they failed to deliver housing for people that need it most and how they’ve legislated people into poverty with their poverty imposition for people on OW and ODSP.

My question to the member is: Can you just explain that this government has not only legislated poverty, but they don’t protect workers—for example, vulnerable workers who had their wages stolen—and they don’t enforce it with employers to make sure that they are paid the wages they are due, and in general, how this government does not actually support vulnerable people through this legislation or at all?

Next question?

Further debate?

Mr. Jones has moved that the question be now put. I am satisfied that there has been sufficient debate to allow this question to be put to the House. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I declare the motion carried.

Mr. Piccini has moved third reading of Bill 79, An Act to amend various statutes with respect to employment and labour and other matters. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Resuming the debate adjourned on June 8, 2023, on the motion to recognize newly elected members of provincial Parliament.

Good afternoon, Madam Speaker. Colleagues, it’s with tremendous humility and gratitude that I rise for the first time in the Ontario Legislature. I want to begin by thanking the people of Kanata–Carleton for once again trusting me with the honour and privilege of being their elected representative. I’m ready and I’m eager to represent them at the provincial Legislature, and I promise to work hard every day to serve them.

I must also acknowledge I would not be in this honourable place without the love and support of my husband and children. They have been the ones who have made the sacrifices needed for me to do the work to serve the people of Kanata–Carleton. I love you so much.

Madam Speaker, it was a crazy summer, with a by-election in the heat of July. I just want to say thank you to all of the volunteers, the donors and the supporters who came out day after day, night after night, working hard to make that victory possible. We knocked on almost 20,000 doors in that short election, and I heard loud and clear what the priorities of my constituents are. They’re worried about the protection of public health care. They’re worried about the protection of public education, and they’re worried about their green spaces and the environment—so many important issues, and they all need to be addressed.

Kanata–Carleton is a beautiful and diverse riding that has attracted people from all over the world to work in its high-tech business park that actually produces over $15 billion in GDP annually to Canada. It employs the best and the brightest of this country, and it’s the centre of innovation and entrepreneurship.

We are also blessed to have a thriving agricultural industry with many generational farms producing dairy and livestock and cash crops, and we are lucky enough to be able to host the Carp agricultural fair, a tradition that stretches back to 1863, older than the country itself. But many rural residents are worried about their way of life. They’re worried about being able to sustain their farms. They need to know that both their farms and their way of life will be protected. We need farmers to keep farming. Paving over prime farmland is a folly of the highest order.

Madam Speaker, I want to give a shout-out to two long-time residents of Kanata–Carleton who represent the very best of community builders: 98-year-old Roly Armitage, a World War II veteran who served our country with distinction. Juanita Snelgrove is a bright, beautiful 106-year-old who has always served her community with heart and commitment. Roly and Juanita, thank you for being such an inspiration to all of us and for serving our wonderful community.

As provincial parliamentarians, we have a tremendous responsibility to serve the people of Ontario. Let me be clear, Madam Speaker, that I strongly believe in quality public health care for everyone and a strong public education system for all of our children, and I will do everything I can to protect the public green spaces and farmland in my riding and indeed right across Ontario.

In the past six years, my riding has had two record-setting floods of the century and a tornado. Many people are still recovering, trying to recover what was lost. Preventing these kinds of catastrophic events is not something easily done; however, protecting the natural landscapes that help mitigate extreme weather events is something that is definitely achievable. The public green space in my riding is critical to the health of the greater watershed and plays a vital role in flood management in the local area. Protecting critical green spaces is something that is within our power, and we need to do whatever is necessary to protect them so we don’t end up facing the serious consequences of what is expected to be more frequent and more severe weather events, like flooding.

We must incentivize the building of safe, sustainable, affordable homes that also does not jeopardize the safety and well-being and security of others. We have some challenges ahead of us, but we have the skills and the talent needed to overcome these challenges if we do what’s best for the greatest number of people—if we do what is the greatest good and if we work together.

I saw two signs yesterday—my first day at Queen’s Park. One said, “Public pain for private gain,” and I heard a lot about pain in the by-election, knocking on doors of people who were hurting because of this dismantling of our public health care system. The number one issue at the door was the lack of primary care—the lack of family doctors. There are no silver-bullet solutions because of the damage inflicted on our health care system by COVID, but there are things we can do today to improve the situation in both the short and long term.

Another sign said, “Health for the many instead of wealth for the few.” Madam Speaker, these are important messages. Our prime mission should be to serve the many, to serve the greater good, to serve all the people, not just the powerful and the wealthy few. We need to be listening to these messages. We need to be taking action, to make our governmental decisions as fair, open, transparent and democratic as possible. We also must be cognizant that introducing a profit motive into our public services brings with it considerable risk.

It’s important to be honest with ourselves and acknowledge the challenges facing us. We owe our constituents no less. We earned the trust of their vote and now our actions will determine if we retain that trust. We need to look at the long-term impacts of decisions we make. We need to ask ourselves: What are the potential consequences of our actions, both intended and unintended? Are we addressing a need today, only to create the problems of the future? This is something we need to consider, and we need to ensure that our decisions are not creating hardship and risk, not only for our children and grandchildren, but also for the most vulnerable among us—the elderly, the sick, the disabled. They all deserve our care and support.

That’s why decisions must not only be based on data, evidence, science and statistics, but also on compassion. I will work hard every day to help make the best decisions possible. I don’t care who has the good idea which will help people—I will work with you. I will give you the credit; I don’t need the credit. I just want to help make people’s lives better and I think the people in this chamber feel the same way.

This is what I will be doing when I consider legislation. I’ll look at the short-term and long-term impacts, and my military and aviation past has led me to look at the risks and dangers of any particular action or decision. As always, the devil is in the details, and those details are important if we want the best outcomes for people. I want to make sure we use this lens to guide our actions to create the best opportunity for people to prosper and live their best lives. We need to be clear with our constituents on the priorities and objectives and plans, and we must hold ourselves accountable by measuring and evaluating our progress.

Madam Speaker, it’s not what we say that matters; it’s what we do. Sometimes we need to remember that here in question period.

The constituents of Kanata–Carleton have heard me, many times, say again and again—I’m going to share it with you. It’s my mother’s favourite saying: It is not happiness that makes you grateful; it is gratefulness that makes you happy. Let me close by saying how very grateful I am to be here today, to be with all of you, to work with all of you, to be the best servant I can be. My thanks to you all.

Further debate?

I believe the member for Nepean has a point of order.

Interjection.

Debate adjourned.

The House recessed from 1743 to 1800.

Evening meeting reported in volume B.

Yes, on a point of order, Speaker: I know you’re going to rule it out as a point of order, but I think it’s incumbent upon all of us in this Legislature to welcome new members. I’ll always remember my maiden speech and some of the funniest things that were said by Peter Kormos after I finished.

I will say this because I’ve known the member opposite from Kanata–Carleton for quite some time: I want to formally congratulate her in the House on behalf of the government and all of my colleagues. I know we’re proud to have you here. And Karen, if I may call you Karen just for the next few minutes, I want to say thank you as well to your family. It must have taken a lot of time to convince them to run again after having been in retirement, so they are—