I’d like to introduce Alexandre Beaudin, project lead, development of collective intelligence at ACÉPO, the association of French-language public school boards.

In short, yes, we’ll continue to work to ensure that across Ontario.

I would say, to date, we’ve done a number of important things as a government to ensure women have equal opportunities to men and are paid equally. We have a pay equity commissioner we’ve been working very closely with: Kadie Ward.

Speaker, we’ve also taken a number of bold steps. To think that up until this Premier was elected, we virtually ignored 50% of the workforce in building the critical infrastructure we need—the hospitals, the schools, the bridges, everything we need in this province. Statistically, it’s working. We now see a 30% increase in women registration in apprenticeships; we see a 116% increase in the building trades.

We’re going to keep working to ensure that every young girl across Ontario achieves their full potential.

In the supplementary, I’ll turn it over to my colleague.

Today marks Equal Pay Day. It’s the day when we mark how far into the next year women have to work to catch up to what most men had earned the previous year. When you’re racialized, Indigenous, a member of the LQBTQ community, the wait for equal pay day is even longer. Women of all age groups, across the board, earn less than men.

So my question to the Premier is, will he commit to ensuring that every woman worker earns as much as her male counterparts?

Closing the gender pay gap and supporting women and gender-diverse peoples’ economic equality is a government responsibility.

Women frequently work in jobs taking care of people and the community—from the doctors, nurses and PSWs who keep our health care system going to the ECEs in our child care centres who care for our children while we’re at work.

Will the Premier commit to properly funding the strong public services that support women’s economic equality?

Interjections.

If we don’t have strong public services like affordable child care and health care and education, women will be left behind. If child care is so out of reach, you’re not going to be able to climb the corporate ladder. If you’re at home taking care of your aging parents, you can’t log those extra hours to get that promotion.

Here’s what I’ve been thinking about lately: our mothers and our grandmothers who fought so hard for these rights and services so that we and our daughters—my daughters—our granddaughters, all of us women in this chamber can have a chance. In an increasingly hostile environment for women, we cannot take those rights and services for granted.

What is the Premier’s plan to protect the rights and services that women have fought so hard for?

Interjections.

We believe people doing the same work should be paid the same regardless of their gender; workers in the health care system expect the same. That’s why front-line health care workers belonging to SEIU and the Ontario Nurses’ Association have spent over a decade fighting for a gender-neutral wage under the Pay Equity Act. The Premier calls these working women heroes—he loves to call them heroes—but he has done nothing to improve their wages or work with them on the Pay Equity Act. Instead, he has repeatedly taken them to court.

Why is the Premier repeatedly taking hard-working women to court instead of giving them what they’re owed?

Speaker, our government will always stand up for pay equity in the workplace and for a woman’s right to be paid fairly for the work that she does.

Employers cannot pay women less based on their gender. And we will continue to hold bad actors accountable, which is why we have the pay equity commission, which has been working with us very closely to ensure we close that gap.

Let’s be real, Mr. Speaker. We can’t go back to the failed policies of the Liberals, supported by the NDP, that chased away thousands of jobs. Do you know what that did? It forced many women to be the sole income earner for homes. It forced many women on social assistance, forcing the government to have to take care of them.

This is why we changed the name of our ministry to “women’s social and economic opportunity”—because we believe in empowering women, because we believe that women can do the jobs that any man can do. That’s why we’ve invested billions in the skills development program, the invest in women program and the Women’s Economic Security Program. We’ve done historic changes to our child care program. We’ve closed the gap. We’ve seen more women working today than we have before. And we’re going continue to do this work.

That’s why if a woman chooses to go to work, we want to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to support that choice. That’s also why we’ve been able to secure the largest portion of funding from the federal government out of any province in Canada, through our Minister of Education, to ensure that the portion of families who need child care from a for-profit child care service provider can still get the child care they deserve. We’ve seen that this has made an impact. More women with children aged zero to five are working—the first time we’ve had an increase since 1976.

These are things to celebrate, and these are the things that we’re doing in our government to make sure that we’re bringing back our economy, through our Minister of Economic Development, attracting many businesses back to Canada and Ontario so that women are able to be at the forefront of these beneficiaries.

The OECD global report on pay transparency and pay equity stated that Ontario’s Pay Equity Act punches well above the global legislative weight, having one of the most rigorous applications. Ontario was one of the first governments, globally, to articulate and legislate pay equity based on the foundational concept of equal pay for work of equal value.

Mr. Speaker, we are working to correct the historical undervaluation of jobs typically held by women, and we’re going to continue to do that, and also ensure that women can choose to enter any sector they want, like STEM, like the skilled trades. We’re getting it done. We’re getting more women working in jobs that pay well so that they can take care of their family and keep themselves and their families safe.

I want to introduce Bruce Cazabon, vice-president, and Yves Laliberté, director of education, from le Conseil scolaire public du Nord-Est de l’Ontario. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

J’aimerais aussi souhaiter la bienvenue aux membres du Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario. Les membres du CEPEO sont ici à Queen’s Park avec d’autres membres de l’ACÉPO, l’Association des conseils scolaires des écoles publiques de l’Ontario. C’était un plaisir de les rencontrer, ces gens-là, pour déjeuner ce matin. On a eu de belles discussions.

Je voulais juste dire que je me joindrai aux membres du CEPEO jeudi soir au centre Shenkman à Orléans pour prendre part aux célébrations en l’honneur du 25^e anniversaire du Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario.

Merci d’être parmi nous aujourd’hui. Bienvenue à Queen’s Park.

The Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

The Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity.

Again, the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity.

My question is for the Minister of Energy.

The Liberal carbon tax is one of the worst taxes this country has ever seen. It punishes families and small businesses, and it hurts Ontario’s growth and economic progress. This regressive tax is unnecessarily increasing the cost of everything Ontarians need on a daily basis. We know that the people of Ontario deserve better.

That’s why our government continues to remain laser-focused on fighting the carbon tax and keeping costs down. But the Liberal members across the aisle and the carbon tax queen herself, Bonnie Crombie, are working against us. That is unacceptable.

Can the minister please explain how the carbon tax is driving up the cost for everyday Ontarians?

The minister is right; there always is something more we could do. We could stop trying to take them to court every five minutes.

I’m going to go back to the Premier again. The vast majority of long-term-care workers and home care workers in this province are women—but the CEOs of the three largest nursing home corporations? All men. Extendicare, Chartwell, Sienna—linked hand in glove with this government—are massive corporations, spending millions of dollars to take these women, their employees and members of SEIU and ONA to court to deny them pay equity. At the same time, those three companies alone are running a gravy train that has rolled out millions in executive compensation and over $500 million in shareholder profits—and I want to say, that was just since the pandemic—all while these women are struggling to pay rent.

On Equal Pay Day, whose side is this government on? The millionaire fat cats who profit from government contracts or the working women who simply want equal pay for equal work?

Interjections.

Monsieur le Premier Ministre, aujourd’hui, c’est la journée de l’équité salariale. Trouvez-vous sincèrement que ces femmes reçoivent leur juste part pour le fruit de leur travail ?

Members will please take their seats.

The associate minister.

Again, to reply, the associate minister.

Today is Equal Pay Day, yet the gender pay gap continues to average at 32%; for Black and Indigenous women, the gap is 42%. Arab women are the lowest-paid women in Ontario’s labour market, with a shocking 47% wage gap—that’s 53 cents for every dollar a man makes.

Ontario’s public child care, education, social and community service providers are mostly women, mainly racialized women. They’re overworked, they’re underpaid, and they’re undervalued.

Since 2018, this government has cut spending to community and social services by 12.1%. Since 2022, Ontario has spent the least amount on social and community services than any province in our nation.

My question is to the Premier. Is this Conservative government okay with shortchanging women?

Instead, the Conservatives are preoccupied with funding cuts and privatization schemes, which we know will only further the gender wage gap.

While this government’s Bill 149 requires some employers to publicly post pay ranges, it did nothing to ensure these ranges are actually realistic and aren’t simply perpetuating the gender pay gap.

The government continues to block the Pay Transparency Act, 2018.

Back to the Premier: Today is Equal Pay Day. Will the Premier finally implement the Pay Transparency Act, 2018, to help narrow the gender wage gap and increase women’s economic liberation?

Interjections.

Thank you to the member from Brampton West for that very fine question.

High inflation, interest rates and the newly high cost of the federal carbon tax have pushed up costs for people right across this great province.

We have heard from jurisdictions and leaders across the country and across the political spectrum that the carbon tax is making life more expensive. In fact, it seems the only ones left supporting this punitive tax are the federal Liberals and, of course, the queen of the carbon tax—yes, herself—Bonnie Crombie.

Mr. Speaker, today, the federal government releases their budget, so we renew our call one more time: It’s time for all parties and all governments to come together. Let’s scrap the tax and make life more affordable for the people of not just Ontario, but all of Canada.

When it comes to the carbon tax, we know that Bonnie Crombie and the Liberals have chosen to stand with the federal government over the hard-working Ontarians all across the province.

I was proud to stand beside the Premier to announce that we have extended the gas tax cut and are keeping costs down for the people of Ontario. This historic cut will save Ontario households $320 and provide billions of savings across the province.

I think it’s important that all members of this House join us in voting to make life more affordable for Ontarians. So I call on the Ontario Liberals to vote for our 2024 budget as we bring down costs for the people of Ontario.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Indeed, we are committed to making life more affordable for mothers and for women across the economy—working with the minister and I.

This government has cut fees historically by 50% for working families, saving roughly $8,000 to $12,000 a year. We’re also building 86,000 additional spaces in small towns and big cities to reduce the wait-lists, to make it more accessible for families.

With respect to the workers, we stand with them. It’s why the government announced an over 19% increase in wages, which was opposed by members opposite. And notwithstanding that opposition, we’re going to continue to lift wages every year. What we did in this deal is deliver wage parity with school board ECEs who were making more. We’ve now closed that gap.

We’ve delivered more access, increased the rate of wages. And we’re reducing fees for Ontario families.

Mr. Speaker, we’ve cut red tape for the operator. We’ve cut fees for the parent. We’re increasing wages for the worker. We’re doing all of this without the support of the members opposite.

Early childhood workers are asking when they will receive the provincial minimum wage increase promised for January 2024. There has been no communication from the government about this delay. And now the Trillium is reporting that the increase won’t take effect until June. This uncertainty has been incredibly difficult for workers to bear.

The government talks about empowering women, so why is the government shortchanging the lowest-paid workers in this women-dominated industry?

In my riding of Thunder Bay–Superior North, we are at risk of losing our only rural child care program because of a lack of qualified early childhood educators. People in my riding are desperate, especially those who live in rural areas but work in Thunder Bay. They have no idea how they will be able to keep their jobs if they can’t find child care.

The government loves to talk about construction workers, but the reality is that female-dominated professions and the care of children continue to be disrespected and underfunded.

What is this government doing to raise pay rates? We’ve heard that they’re going to raise them; tell us when, so that people can look forward to an increase in their pay packages.

The member for Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke and the parliamentary assistant.

My question is for the Minister of Finance.

The federal carbon tax is hurting people in my riding of Brampton West and across Ontario. It is driving up inflation and raising the price of everything, from groceries and gas to home heating. Everyone has had enough of the carbon tax, and everyone knows it is just another Liberal tax grab. Unlike the opposition NDP and independent Liberals, our government won’t stop standing up for people of this province. We’ll continue to call on the federal government to put an end to this regressive measure.

Can the minister please tell the House why the federal government must end this costly carbon tax?

The carbon tax is not only driving up our energy and gas bills, but also the cost of food, housing and more. Hiking this punitive and regressive tax is unacceptable to each and every Ontario resident who is already seeing their hard-earned dollars stretched further than ever before.

We know the NDP and the independent Liberals won’t stand up for the people of this province. They actually want to see the carbon tax triple by 2030.

That’s exactly why our government will continue to protect Ontario workers and families from the high cost of the carbon tax, and we urge the federal government to do the same.

Can the minister please explain what our government is doing to keep costs down for Ontario families?

Thank you to the great member from Kitchener–Conestoga for the question. He’s absolutely right; the carbon tax is driving up the cost of everything, including the food items we buy.

Let’s just take a little ride with a loaf of bread—the loaf of bread that you get at the grocery store. The Grain Farmers of Ontario expect to pay $2.7 billion in carbon tax by 2030, driving up the cost of grain. But it doesn’t stop there. Businesses that mill the grain into flour and then turn that flour into bread pay a carbon tax on their operations, and then there are carbon taxes on the fuel to get it to the distribution centre and to the grocery store. And the grocery store pays carbon tax on their operations, including their heating and their cooling and everything else. It’s a never-ending saga under these Liberals.

The fact is, if the federal government would understand the damage that they’re doing to people all across Ontario, they would scrap the tax.

Energy is a great subject for us to be talking about; not so much by the Liberals, because they could never figure it out.

We’re doing everything we can to make energy affordable here in the province of Ontario so families and businesses can survive and businesses can invest in their operations. We’re ensuring affordable home heating through our Clean Home Heating Initiative and the natural gas expansion program. We’re building the next generation of affordable nuclear energy in this province so we will have guaranteed energy for decades to come.

Speaker, they failed in energy policy. They’re failing in their approach to the carbon tax.

We’re going to continue to make life more affordable for the people of Ontario.

Thank you to the parliamentary assistant for his response.

The parliamentary assistant is right; this tax is not working for the people. It is jacking up the price of everything and making life more difficult for hard-working Ontarians.

The same old Liberal story is happening all over again. Under the previous Liberal government, people in my riding of Kitchener–Conestoga saw their electricity prices skyrocket, increasing by more than—get this, colleagues—$1,000 a year. Now they are supporting their federal buddies’ tax grabs.

Unlike the Liberals, our government has worked hard to make energy more affordable so that Ontario families don’t have to choose between paying their electricity bill or putting food on the table.

Can the minister please tell this House how our government is delivering the support Ontarians need as we continue to fight this job-killing, regressive carbon tax?

Let me be as clear as I can possibly be: There is no one in the province of Ontario or in this Legislature who believes that putting well water testing at risk is on the table. I want to be very clear on that matter.

Of course, the Ministry of Health funds Public Health Ontario to provide testing services for individuals who rely on private drinking water systems to serve households. We all know that.

The ministry has not made any decisions about changes to the provincial well water testing program, including which laboratories conduct testing of water samples.

I want to be very clear: There have been no changes. People who want to get their well water tested—and there are thousands across rural Ontario, including in my own riding—take those tests to their public health unit. They get tested. They get those results. That continues.