I appreciate the member opposite.

I want to go back a little bit to my question earlier and perhaps change to another subject.

Part of the regulatory changes that came under the Working for Workers Four package included the addition of a number of different poisonings, actually, to the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act; namely, chlorine, ammonia and hydrogen sulphide poisonings. This is now part of the presumed work-related occupational diseases that are under this part of the legislation. I think it’s important. I have no doubt at all that the member opposite has support for this particular part of the legislation—to add some of these areas for presumptive coverage.

My question is—he’s saying, “You’re starting, but you’re not going very far. It’s a step in the right direction, but that’s about it.” How come they never brought forward any of these changes? They were there for 15 years.

Why couldn’t you make all these changes that you think are so wonderful and need to happen today?

I think back to my time door-knocking in the last provincial election. I had the opportunity, when I was in Beamsville, a very beautiful town in my riding, in Lincoln—I was going up to a door that I remembered distinctly from my by-election. I try to knock on every door in my riding at least once between elections, and then also I go out during the election—between elections, more to get a sense of people when they’re not as engaged in what’s happening and just to kind of feel where they’re at. I remembered that that had been a bit of a negative door, but I thought, “Do you know what? Here we are. It’s six years later. I’m going to give it another shot and see. Perhaps this fellow”—and it was a vague memory that it hadn’t been the most positive interaction. I had come forward and said, “Will you be supporting me?” “No, I’m not a PC.” Okay. That’s all right. “That’s the beauty of a democracy” is usually my response to people who say that they’re not going to be voting for us.

I walked up to the door and there was a fellow—I could see him coming out of his work truck. He looked over at me. He had a lot of paint on his outfit, and he had just come home from work. I think it was about quarter to 5, if my memory is correct, on a Thursday. He said, “Sam, I remember you. You came here four years ago.” I said, “Well, it was six years ago.” He said, “Do you know what? I’m going to vote for you guys this time.” I said, “Oh, are you?” And he said, “Yes, I’m a member of the painters’ union, and painters know that Doug Ford is building things in Ontario, and Doug Ford supports painters and workers in Niagara.” And I said, “Well, thank you very much. Can I put up a lawn sign?” He paused and said, “Well, I don’t know if I’m there yet.” So I walked away, and we door-knocked for a little more. There were about seven or eight of us, I think, in that subdivision. About 45 minutes later, I heard someone—“Sam, never mind. You can put up the lawn sign.”

So it’s just a little story, but I think it speaks to the understanding that the people of Ontario and the people in my riding of Niagara West, the hard-working men and women who go out every day in so many different aspects of our economy, who work hard to put food on their table—not just to put food on their table, but to put something away for a rainy day, to put something away for their children’s university education or perhaps skilled trades school. They believe in our government because they see that we are taking action and that we’re not just using words.

I think that today’s legislation is a part of that legacy that we are building here as Progressive Conservatives, as the government of Ontario that has now brought forward not one, not two, not three, but four pieces of omnibus legislation—really quite substantial and weighty pieces of legislation—that are adding protections for the working men, the working women of Ontario, to ensure that they are getting the respect that they deserve; that bad actors, bad employers, those who will not respect the rights of workers, those who will not step forward to ensure that they are being treated with dignity and respect in the workplace and outside of it, won’t get away with that in the province of Ontario.

So I’m very grateful to be able to speak to this legislation and share a little bit about some of the benefits that this legislation is going to be bringing forward. There are a number of different pieces to it, and I think the key take-away is that we want to ensure that workers have better jobs with bigger paycheques, closer to home, and to do so in a way that is safe and that is supported by the government of Ontario and by their employers—that they are supported by those who should be there to ensure their best interest.

Speaker, one of my friends who worked for a number of years in the service industry—we were speaking a little bit about this legislation and also some legislation that came out in 2016. In 2016—credit where credit is due—we saw the former Liberal government bring forward legislation that banned the retention of tips by employers; that they were not allowed to be retaining tips and claiming that they were for employees. In some cases, you would actually pay a tip to someone who had done a really good job, assuming that it would go to that person. And my friend told me, “No, it was very common practice”—and I won’t name the employer, because I know that they have changed that practice, thankfully. But they had a practice of retaining a portion of the tips, and I was shocked. The time we had this conversation about this was not that long ago. I said, “Well, how recently was this?” And this was in 2016, actually, that this had happened, before this introduction. I think that when I spoke with her, someone who worked very, very hard in the service sector, who took great pride in her work, who is now working in forensic pathology, who is doing incredible work in that field and working with various agencies to ensure that that work is happening—she said, “Yes, and the problem is, even though, now, it is illegal, there are still bad actors who will do this because workers don’t always necessarily understand that it is illegal.”

It’s very important, then, that as a Legislature, as a government, as members of provincial Parliament in our communities, we take a piece of legislation like this piece of legislation, Working for Workers Act 4, and use it to, again, reiterate the message that you deserve better wages, you deserve fair pay for hard work, and we are going to ensure that you are not being taken advantage of by bosses. So this legislation builds on the legacy that we’ve now seen some successive governments take some action on to say that workers deserve that respect. They deserve to have measures in place that will respect them and ensure that their tips are being shared in a way that is transparent, in a way that is focused on workers, and that is not creating a situation where people are being penalized for something that’s not their fault.

Earlier, we heard the member for Kitchener South–Hespeler speak about when she worked in the service industry and would have an employer who told her that, well, if there was a loss, if there was a dine-and-dash, that was on her. In the province of Ontario, we know that’s not right.

So this legislation now builds on those moves to say that we also need to have transparency around what that tip-sharing practice is, to give more tools to those employees when they are in that sector, so that they don’t have to wonder about whether or not something is legal or not, but they actually have it in front of them and they can read it easily; it’s apparent, it’s transparent, and it’s something that they’re able to go to in reference, perhaps in those conversations with someone who is trying to sneak around the rules or someone who doesn’t even know the rules themselves. It provides a better level of support for those workers in our communities.

That’s just one little piece of this legislation; there are a number of aspects to it.

I think of all of the new Canadians who have come to Niagara.

Over the past decade, we’ve had a massive influx of new Canadians, people who are hard-working, who believe in a better future for them and their children, but are unable to get some of the jobs that they should be able to get due to Canadian work experience requirements. So what we’re seeing under this legislation are changes to that so that we don’t have people using the Canadian work experience requirement as a crutch to avoid hiring people who are qualified for that position, but rather saying that no, we believe that if you have the skill set, you have the merits and you’re able to do that work and do it well, all other things being equal, you shouldn’t have that prevent you from being able to work in the province of Ontario.

We believe that we need to have a work-life balance in Ontario. I can’t believe, actually, that here in 2024, it took us—and this is no disrespect to any of the ministers or any of those who have brought forward other pieces of legislation on this. But to have a right to disconnect, I think, is such a foundational, important aspect of so many people’s lives. For ourselves as MPPs, of course, it’s a little different; we are elected with the amazing responsibility and gift of being able to stay connected to people 24/7 when we’re out and about, when we’re in the community and also just at home. It’s an expectation, and I understand that. But for most people, they go to their work, and they put in their time, and they work hard. They should be able to go home and enjoy time with family and friends—or, if they aren’t able to do so, if there’s an expectation that they’re going to be on call, to have that clarified, to have that transparently laid out. This legislation helps ensure that we have that as well.

It’s about increasing services for those who are under WSIB, ensuring that the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is able to provide them with super-indexing, with more than just the cost-of-living increases that they already receive, to really provide them with additional supports.

There are a number of different measures in this legislation, Speaker. I only had a chance to touch on a few of them, but I wanted to add my voice in support of working for workers, because we know it’s important that every member in this chamber recognize the contributions the hard-working men and women of not just Niagara, but every corner of this province, make to our culture, to our society and to our economy, and show them with legislation like this that we have their back. So I proudly stand in support of it, and I thank you for your time this afternoon.