It’s my pleasure today to welcome three of my co-op students from the Oakville community: Desha Barrow from King’s Christian Collegiate, Sarah Kadhim from Iroquois Ridge High School and Ava Nouri from King’s Christian Collegiate.

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, decades of chronic underfunding of post-secondary education by both Liberal and Conservative governments, followed by five years of Conservative cuts, have pushed our post-secondary system to the brink. Ontario is dead last in per-student funding—has been for years—which means larger classes for students, higher faculty workloads, greater reliance on precarious contract faculty and less time for faculty-student contact.

At least 10 universities in this province are already in deficit, and that number is going to grow, despite the government’s disastrous recent funding announcement. My question to the Premier: Will the government commit to the funding necessary to stabilize and preserve our world-class post-secondary system?

Interjections.

Under the leadership of this Premier, we just invested $1.3 billion in post-secondary education, the largest investment in over a decade in post-secondary education. We are giving schools the stability and the predictability that they need, and we are not doing it on the backs of Ontario students.

Mr. Speaker, we are continuing to freeze tuition for an additional three years. Looking back under the Liberal leadership, Ontario had the highest post-secondary education tuition in all of Canada. Under the leadership of this Premier, we decreased tuition by 10% and we have continued to freeze it. We are going to ensure that every student in this province has accessibility and affordability when it comes to post-secondary education.

The minister knows full well that the funding that was announced won’t come close to keeping Ontario’s post-secondary system afloat. And all the while, the clock is ticking on the international student study permits that have been effectively subsidizing our post-secondary system in this province. Colleges and universities are in limbo, unable to plan until they know how the permits will be allocated, leaving students’ futures up in the air. Queen’s and Guelph have already announced program cuts. More programs—even campuses—may have to close.

My question is, does the Premier understand how serious the consequences are of refusing to properly fund our colleges and universities in Ontario?

It sounds like the member is in favour of increasing tuition. Under the leadership of this Premier, we are going to ensure that students have affordable and accessible education in the province. That’s why we’re investing a historic $1.3 billion in post-secondary education. That’s an additional $100 million for the 65,000 STEM graduates out there and the 30,000 nursing students in our system.

We have an incredible, world-class post-secondary education system in Ontario, and we are going to ensure that with $1.3 billion, we are giving schools the affordability and the predictability that they need to ensure that we have and continue to have world-class education here in this province.

The teacher shortage in our education system is causing chaos for students, families and workers. The government created this problem with its cuts to education, its wage suppression bill and its disrespect for teachers. We now have thousands of teachers leaving the sector, many of them not waiting for the end of the school year, because of the working conditions.

Instead of big words and band-aid solutions, will the Minister of Education actually solve the problem by significantly investing in education and providing every child with the support they need?

School boards have already had to cut teacher and education worker positions because of this government’s underfunding, and now they’re looking at even more cuts this year. The Toronto District School Board has to cut $20.8 million. Peel announced they’re closing special education classes and laying off teachers. This government’s underfunding is pouring gasoline on the fire of the teacher shortage. If the minister wants to address the problem, why not start with adequate funding for education?