I come from a trades background. My father is a tool and die maker. All of my family members were working in different trades. I was a forest firefighter in northern Ontario with some of the first women crew members in the 1980s. So I appreciate any effort to get women into trades, to open up doors for women, because there are often too many barriers to get them into different jobs.

Clean washrooms: They should be mandatory on any work site. The thing that this government announced, though, when they announced this bill is that they were going to have free menstrual products available on construction sites. That was the announcement and it’s not in the bill.

So you’re pretending that you’re supporting women workers. You make an announcement that you’re supporting women workers. You say that it’s going to be in the legislation, but it isn’t there. So what are women workers supposed to think of that? Are they supposed to think that, “Oh, well, maybe they will fulfill their promise”?

For the survivors of sexual assault who came here yesterday, many of whom had had their cases thrown out of court because this government is underfunding our court system—there aren’t enough staff in our courts, and those cases are getting thrown out. Sexual assault cases are getting thrown out. So they came here to have a day in the Legislature where they could actually hear their cases brought forward. They could hear their stories brought forward. Yet this government silenced it.

I think that’s got to be traumatizing to the women who came here, the 100 women. There was one woman who flew from Los Angeles to hear that debate, and this government silenced that debate, silenced those women’s stories. I think that’s absolutely shameful.

Good afternoon, colleagues. I rise today to talk about Bill 190, Working for Workers Five Act, 2024, that was introduced by the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. As the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Education and as a professional with a background in HR, I’m happy to speak to this bill.

Today, I would like to focus my attention on a couple of items, specifically, opening the pathways to skilled trades and increasing fairness for job seekers and employees.

Speaker, we are building a better Ontario for the future. That future needs workers that can build and maintain the infrastructure that we need. We know there’s a huge shortage of skilled workers in Ontario. The majority of skilled tradesmen and women are retiring or approaching retirement, leaving a gap in the labour market. As the demand for skilled trades workers continues to grow in the manufacturing and construction sectors, our government is committed to taking action to ensure that our province has the tradespeople to grow and prosper. We need to remove the stigma and introduce students to technical education, teaching them important skills that may eventually lead to a good-paying job and career in the trades.

That’s one of the reasons why the Ministry of Education is making it mandatory for students to take at least one technical education course starting this September. Programs like the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program support skilled trades initiatives in secondary schools. OYAP is a specialized program in high school that allows students to explore apprenticeships and consider careers in the skilled trades, generally starting in grade 11 or grade 12, through their school’s co-operative education program.

Building on OYAP, our government is creating a new stream to further increase interest in the trades: FAST, Focused Apprenticeship Skills Training. This training program will allow students in grades 11 and 12 to participate in apprenticeship opportunities through co-op credits. Students would work toward their high school diploma. Upon completion of this program, they would receive a new seal on their Ontario secondary school diploma recognizing their dedication to learning a trade.

The FAST program would allow students to focus their senior-level courses in co-op, accelerating their entrance into a skilled apprenticeship. FAST would also help to address dropout rates and provide students who are at risk of dropping out of school the opportunity to pursue different pathways to completing their high school diploma.

I’d like to share a quote from Cathy Abraham, president of the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association: “We welcome the new OYAP FAST program and thank the Ministry of Education for listening to feedback received from stakeholders during its robust consultation. School boards recognize there is a need for more students to pursue opportunities in the skilled trades as part of a modernized secondary school program. This plan recognizes the importance of exposing students to the skilled trades while also ensuring they remain connected to their school, increasing the likelihood that they will graduate. We look forward to further dialogue with the Ministry of Education on other aspects of implementation, to help ensure student success in whatever path they choose.”

I want to take a moment to talk about a skilled trades program that I have been a huge supporter of that I learned about probably about a year or so ago. At Notre Dame Catholic Secondary School in Burlington, there is a construction shop class that builds tiny homes. This project exposes students to a number of different skilled trades including carpentry, construction, electrical and plumbing, offering them hands-on experiential learning. Not only does this class have a wait-list, but the majority of the students in the class are women.

The Working for Workers 5 legislation pursues measures that will encourage more women to join the skilled trades. Our government’s message is clear: Skilled trades are open to everyone. Our government is proud of the steps we’ve taken so far, and we’ve seen the results. In the past year, the percentage of new entrants to the skilled trades who are women is up by a historic 28%. We’re going to continue pursuing measures that will encourage women, just like the women at the Notre Dame tiny homes construction class, to join the skilled trades and make sure the doors to these in-demand careers are open to everyone.

Changes that we’re proposing in this legislation will require employers and constructors to maintain washroom facilities and provide menstrual products based on the size and duration of the project. Encouraging more women to get involved in the trades fosters an accepting, inclusive environment and also makes Ontario the first jurisdiction in Canada to require menstrual products on construction sites as part of occupational health and safety requirements.

I was recently at an event that celebrated women coaching other women. There was a young lady who was a guest speaker. She told us about her journey as a student where she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, but after taking an apprenticeship program, she became an electrician. She has now purchased her first home at the age of 25. She has a thriving business and is encouraging other women, young and not so young, to explore a meaningful career in the trades. By opening the pathways into the skilled trades, we are making it easier for students and giving women a chance to take a different direction in their career.

We’re also encouraging mature workers to leverage their existing skills and education. The Working for Workers Five Act, if passed, will allow mature workers to meet alternative criteria that leverage their existing skills and experience, providing them a chance at a second career in an in-demand field and a well-paying job.

Speaker, our government continues to remove barriers through a new online job matching platform for new and prospective apprentices, to network and share opportunities that match their skills. We have also, since 2020, invested over $1.5 billion in the skilled trades through programs like the Skills Development Fund that support training in different sectors. This is because we know that in order to build Ontario, we need skilled workers and tradespeople working along side us.

Also in this bill, we are proposing to make the hiring process more transparent. As someone who has worked in human resources for the greater part of my professional career, I understand how important it is for employers to adopt clear, transparent and respectful recruitment practices that include notifying candidates on the outcome of their interviews. From an employer’s perspective, providing no communication to candidates following an interview is a sure way to leave a bad impression. It can also negatively impact an organization’s reputation and its ability to attract talent in the future.

I’m sure we all know someone who has gone through a very rigorous recruitment process, only to never hear back on the status of their application. Once that experience is shared, other qualified candidate may choose not to pursue opportunities with that organization. This information alone can be enough to deter a candidate from applying and illustrates the importance of providing constructive feedback to candidates and at the very least informing them that they will not be progressing.

Further, when a candidate receives no feedback for weeks following a first or second round interview, they may presume that they have been unsuccessful and there is an increased chance they will either reject a job offer, have lost interest or will have found a job elsewhere. From a candidate’s perspective, hearing back from a perspective employer is an opportunity to ask for feedback, to learn from their experience and for closure.

This legislation, if passed, would also require potential employers to state on the job posting if the position is vacant or for future consideration, enhancing transparency for job seekers and ensuring they invest their time and resources wisely.

The Working for Workers Five Act builds on the previous Working for Workers legislation. If passed, Ontario will continue to lead the country with new initiatives, including the OYAP FAST program, providing supports to encourage more students to pursue careers in the skilled trades. Thank you.

And you’re on it.

But what I want to talk about is that this bill, about working for women, completely ignores the women that work in gender-based-violence organizations across the province. They have to fundraise for their wages. They have had to start a food bank for their own workers. They’re dealing with more and more complex, traumatized cases, as we see an epidemic of gender-based violence, which this government refuses to declare as an epidemic. So why would this government exclude and ignore not only the voices of sexual assault survivors but the voices of women that work in that sector?

Thank you very much to the MPP for Burlington. While we agree with you that women in the trades are very important, there have been many, many governments that have been trying to encourage women in non-traditional trades, so we support that.

While we think it’s very important that women have clean washrooms, that any worker has clean washrooms is what we he need in this province. Making period products available is great. I think that’s really important.

But you talked a lot about hearing the stories of women. Your government and you voted to discharge Lydia’s Law directly to committee and silence the voices of women who wanted to talk about their experience of sexual assault and having their cases thrown out of court. Sexual assault perpetrators, rapists, went free: 1,300 last year; over 1,000 the year before.

Why did you vote to discharge that bail and not support workers and women workers in this province who want to have their stories heard?

Questions? I recognize the member for Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas.

As the member opposite mentioned earlier in her comments, this legislation has been referred and sent to committee, where we’ll deal with it faster and hear from women’s voices directly.

I will now return to messaging that’s on the bill, about women, and would just like to read a quote, perhaps, that speaks to women who are working in the trades and their input. We heard from Karen Pullen, chair of Ontario Building and Construction Tradeswomen:

“Today’s Working for Workers Five bill includes welcome measures that will improve conditions on job sites across the construction industry in Ontario. Clean, functioning washrooms should be the right of every worker, male or female. Providing menstrual products on every job site is a tangible way to level the playing field for women on site.”

Point of order, Speaker.

On Monday, May 27, in the afternoon, government motion number 3, which will recognize newly elected members, and third reading of Bill 171, Enhancing Professional Care for Animals Act, 2024.

On Tuesday, May 28, in the morning, Bill 194, Strengthening Cyber Security and Building Trust in the Public Sector Act, 2024; in the afternoon, a bill to be introduced; at 6 p.m., the member for London–Fanshawe, Bill 191, Childcare and Early Years Workforce Strategy Advisory Committee Act, 2024.

On Wednesday, May 29, in the morning, third reading of Bill 188, Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024; in the afternoon, third reading of Bill 188, Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024; and, at 6 p.m., my friend the member from Windsor–Tecumseh’s Bill 193, Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Amendment Act, 2024.

On Thursday, May 30, in the morning, third reading of Bill 99, Garrett’s Legacy Act (Requirements for Movable Soccer Goals), 2023. In the afternoon, third reading of Bill 188, Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024; and, finally on Thursday, May 30, at 6 p.m., the member for Sudbury, Bill 118, Injured Workers Day Act, 2023.

It’s a little disheartening to hear the rather flippant comments that are coming from the other side—the opposition—here today, almost as if we haven’t taken the time or the thought to consult with many different stakeholders on this bill, including women.

I just wanted to get your take, to the member from Burlington, as a woman. I think it’s very important that we recognize we have a very diverse caucus made up of folks from all across the province, all different creeds, races and a very large representation of women who have input into these bills as well. As a woman, I just wanted to get your comments on how you think that we’re able to move forward and we’re pushing the envelope. No matter what the NDP say, we are going to do what is right and what is best, and I want to get your take on that.

Thank you so much to my colleague. I will share that in my constituency office in the riding of Burlington, I have met with a number of different stakeholders, including the West End Home Builders’ Association, who has a group called Women in Industry. I have heard from women in the skilled trades who work at the Centre for Skills Development, also in my riding of Burlington, and I have also met with the women boilermakers in Burlington. What I continue to hear from women is they may go through and that they may pursue a career in the skilled trades, but one issue that came up time and time and time again was accessibility to washrooms that were lit and that were within a reasonable proximity to the job site, that they were clean and that there was an availability of menstrual products.

Good afternoon, colleagues. Promoting Leisure Activities for Youth Act, 2024, PLAY: It’s very simple. We all remember the joys of playing growing up. Over time, we’ve learned more and more about the physical, mental health and academic benefits of play. For our kids, it can be as easy as running around outside or picking up a ball and bouncing it with their friends. But participating in sports and extracurricular activities as a child can help set you up for a healthier lifestyle as we age. And while it is sometimes harder for us old guys to play, it remains a critically important life skill and health habit, one that is much easier if it’s developed at an earlier age.

As a dad, one of my greatest joys is seeing the important life lessons my son takes away from his participation in sport: important lessons about fitness, about teamwork, leadership and commitment, the ability to persevere through difficult moments, to remember that it’s never over until it’s over.

In fact, Madam Speaker, one of the important benefits of sports was recently brought to my attention, and I think it is particularly important and poignant given what’s happened in the Legislature this week: 94% of women in the C-suite played sports, including 52% of them playing high-intensity university sports. Three quarters of women in leadership surveyed said that a background in sport can help accelerate their careers.

En tant que père, l’une de mes plus grandes joies est de voir les leçons de vie importantes sur la condition physique, le travail d’équipe, le leadership et l’engagement que mon fils apprend grâce à sa participation aux sports.

During the pandemic, too many of our kids were forced to put the ball down. They were forced to stop playing. Recess was nonexistent; organized sports were cancelled or seriously watered down. Many kids were stuck indoors, and their physical and mental health suffered.

Coming out of the pandemic, families are facing an affordability crisis not experienced in a generation. With higher grocery prices, higher mortgage payments, higher energy costs, families are tightening their belts. And while we could debate until the cows come home the cause of the affordability crisis, one thing is for certain: It’s impacting our kids, and it’s making it harder for families to afford many of the extras. Families of all shapes and sizes, of all income levels, are looking for ways to save. For some, this means cutting out the little extras. For too many, it means cutting out essentials. But we must do everything that we can to ensure that our kids’ physical and mental health doesn’t suffer as a result.

Fee inflation is pushing too many kids out of sports. Too many families can no longer afford to participate in organized sports and extracurricular activities.

Nous devons faire tout ce qui est en notre pouvoir pour que la santé physique et mentale de nos enfants n’en souffre pas. Trop de familles n’ont pas les moyens d’inscrire leurs enfants à des activités sportives et extrascolaires organisées.

In Ontario, the richest province in the country, one in four kids from middle-class families don’t participate in any organized activity or sport—one in four. That number gets worse as income levels go down. Think about it: One in four middle-class kids don’t participate in any organized activity or sport. What could be more middle class than waking up Saturday morning, getting the kids to the rink with a hockey bag in one hand and your Timmy’s in the other, or heading to the field on Friday night to see the human cluster of kids surrounding a soccer ball as it criss-crosses the field? That, for many, is the Ontario dream, and one in four middle-class kids can’t participate. With skyrocketing fees, too many families can’t afford to keep their kids playing.

Moreover, in a recent report by ParticipACTION, only 39% of children and youth ages five to 17 in Canada met the recommendation of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity of physical activity every day—39%. We need to get more of our kids playing. Making it easier for mom and dad’s pocketbook is a great place to start. Giving parents some financial relief, making it financially more viable to put their kids or to keep their kids in sports and extracurricular activities can make a real difference in their lives. It will make our kids healthier. Healthier kids mean healthier adults; healthier adults mean reduced burden on our health care system.

We know the strains that our health care system is facing at the moment. We have 2.2 million Ontarians without a family doctor. That number is going to double in the next three years. We have emergency rooms that are closing, sometimes for a couple of hours, sometimes for a couple of days, sometimes for a couple of weekends, sometimes, we fear, maybe permanently. Everything we can do to create a healthier population we should be doing.

We need to start to view children’s sports and physical activity as a critical and integrated part of our health care system, because if we can be healthy and stay healthy, we can stay out of the doctor’s offices and we can stay out of the hospital.

Nous proposons de permettre aux parents de choisir plus facilement de faire participer leurs enfants à des activités de loisir. Nous voulons que le choix soit un peu plus facile. Si elle est adoptée, la loi sur la promotion des activités de loisir pour les jeunes créera un crédit d’impôt non remboursable de 1 000 $ pour les activités extrascolaires pour les enfants.

What does this bill do? This bill proposes to make it a little bit easier for parents to choose to keep their kids in leisure activities. We want the choice to play to be a little bit easier. If passed tonight—and I hope the government will join us in voting for this—the promoting leisure activities for youth act would create a $1,000 non-refundable tax credit for children’s extracurricular activities. We want this to be as inclusive as possible. These activities would range from anything from hockey and football to drama and art. Our goal—and as I mentioned, it’s a goal that we hope the government will join us in—is to help families to keep their kids playing.

Over the last number of months, Ontario Liberals have proposed an array of affordability measures to help families. Before Christmas last year, we proposed removing the HST from home heating. That proposal for a common-sense tax break was rejected by the government.

We are debating here tonight a proposal to create a $1,000 tax credit for families to keep their kids physically fit and engaged in extracurricular activities. We hope the government will join us in that.

Earlier this week, we proposed a massive tax cut to small businesses, a small business tax cut that could save those businesses up to $18,000 a year—over $1,000 a month, Madam Speaker, to help small businesses, which are the heart of our economy, to continue to invest in their communities, to continue to invest in human resources and skills development in our communities across the province, to ensure that we have that workforce that we need to ensure that those services are being provided in our communities, and to ensure that the economic benefits are achieved from all of their hard work and their creativity as entrepreneurs.

Ontario Liberals are proposing common-sense tax measures to help Ontarians during these difficult economic times, and we hope that the government will join us in that common sense approach. Cost, Madam Speaker, should not be the barrier to the academic, the mental health, the physical health and the social benefits that extracurricular activities provide.

Further questions?

Seeing none, Mr. Piccini has moved second reading of Bill 190, 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.

Second reading agreed to.

I recognize the deputy government House leader.

Mr. Blais moved second reading of the following bill:

Bill 178, An Act to amend the Taxation Act, 2007 to provide for a non-refundable tax credit to encourage children’s extra-curricular activities / Projet de loi 178, Loi modifiant la Loi de 2007 sur les impôts pour prévoir un crédit d’impôt non remboursable afin d’encourager les activités parascolaires des enfants.

Further debate?

It’s always a great opportunity to be able to speak here to private members’ business. I’d like to begin my remarks with a little bit of background on the current economic situation we’re seeing here in Ontario and, frankly, all of Canada.

We’re here to discuss the issue of affordability, perhaps the most pressing issue facing Ontarians today. Much like the rest of the world, Ontario continues to face economic uncertainty, high interest rates from the Bank of Canada, high inflation, the federal carbon tax—which, of course, the Ontario Liberals and their leader, the queen of the carbon tax herself, are so fond of. These challenges are putting very real pressures on the household budgets of every family in this province—so much so, Speaker, that the average Ontarian will tell you they feel like they are living in the middle of a recession, even though we aren’t technically in one. This is all too telling of the difficulty that people, especially families, are dealing with right now.

In the face of these difficulties, our government was left to make a choice. We could either raise taxes, cut back on spending and put the well-being of our people, families and businesses at risk, or we could take a different approach, one which invests in the successful future of Ontario communities and builds a strong economy that benefits everyone, all while keeping costs down. So we made a clear decision to stick a plan we know is working, a plan that puts people and families first and brings their bright future even closer to the present, all without raising the cost of taxes on people living and working here in Ontario.

That means no new taxes, no new tolls, no new fees, Speaker. The people of our province are being heard when they tell us that is what they want. We are choosing to help the hard-working families of this province through targeted, responsible investments and relief measures that have meaningful and impactful results, which is something that I’m afraid cannot be said about the proposed measure brought forth by the Liberal member for Orléans here today.

Speaker, for a moment I’d like to address viewers watching today’s debate from home to make something very clear: The proposal by the Liberals does not mean that you or your family will receive $1,000 back in tax returns. This is a terrible misconception that I sincerely hope my colleagues on the Liberal side of the House are not trying to take advantage of. In reality, Speaker, this so-called support would only give families a small percentage that they wouldn’t even see for up to 16 months in the next tax return in the following year. When you take into consideration that the Liberals want to impose a carbon tax in Ontario, this simply does not make sense.

With this bill, Liberals are proposing to hand out an insignificant pittance to families, only to take even more money from them later at the gas pump, the grocery store, paying their bills and everywhere in between. At every turn, the Liberals want to find a new tax to impose on the hard-working families and people of this province.

This proposal seems to make an insincere attempt to mislead Ontarians into thinking they won’t make life more expensive than it already is, if given the chance—

I want to congratulate and thank the member from Orléans for tabling this motion today. I must say that his debate here is always well researched, thoughtful and often very sharp-witted, which we need here.

We heard a government response that wasn’t so much sharp-witted as it was sharp. Upon listening—and I must digress. The amount of times the carbon tax is mentioned in the chamber—I actually believe that they may not, in fact, be interested in removing it because I don’t think they’d have anything else to talk about if the carbon tax was actually removed. I have a sneaking suspicion about that.

But on returning to the substance of this motion, I’m proud to stand and rise and speak on behalf of any measure to support our children and our youth here in the province of Ontario. It’s very important. I know, coming out of the pandemic, where many, many programs did not have the opportunity to even run—coming out of that, we are looking at ways to incentivize and to bring kids and youth back into programming, not just sports, not just music. There are countless ways in which this is possible. Certainly, this motion here is an attempt to do that. I know that it’s here in good faith.

I have to say, as a father of two young sons, having a child is truly a moment in your life where you could measure everything that has happened before and after. It changes you as a person into something you can only realize when you have that child. What would you not be willing to do for your own children? Certainly, programs that we send them to, extracurriculars, are not just important but they are essential for our children. We must remove any form of barrier that exists.

Certainly, there are many ways of doing it. Yes, you can invest in programming and find many different ways to do that. Yes, you can put more money in general into parents’ pockets. But incentivizing it in this way is also an important way and a way that will have children go out there.

Many parents face barriers of time and certainly finances to be able to put their children in important programs like this. We don’t want to see financial barriers. Many parents don’t have the time or money to be able to enrol them. But for those who do, it’s an average of $2,500 a year that parents spend. They spend to be able to give important opportunities for their children to reach their best potential, not just in learning skills and sports and new talents, but some of these extracurriculars may point them in a new direction that could change their lives.

Skills, friendships, social skills, motivation: The list goes on and on, and one could sit here an entire day explaining why this is a good idea and why it’s important to incentivize, give the parents the help they need and do the best for our children. Because after all, what could be more important than supporting our children, for they are our future?

We all say it, but once in a while we’re offered the opportunity to actually make it a reality. I believe this is one of those days. I’m proud to stand in support of this measure, and I thank the member for tabling the bill today.

Withdraw.

But you don’t have to take it from me; take it from the Liberals themselves, Speaker. When they were in power in 2010, they introduced a similar measure called the Ontario Children’s Activity Tax Credit, only to scrap it in 2017—

Speaker, do you know why they decided to scrap it? Because it turns out that it ended up benefiting higher-income families who were less likely to actually need the money in supporting their kids in extracurricular activities. Their plan completely backfired, Speaker, just as I fear this proposal would backfire again if this proposal were to go through. But this time, it won’t be the Liberals paying the price for their own mistakes, Speaker; the only ones who would end up paying more would be the Ontario families who simply can’t afford any more of the Liberals’ expensive and bad ideas.

Now, if that isn’t convincing enough, Speaker, all you need to do is take a closer look at the federal Liberals, their cousins in Ottawa, and the legacy of scrapping a similar policy, in fact just like this one. From 2017 onwards, the Trudeau federal Liberals, the cousins of the provincial Liberals here, eliminated the children’s fitness tax credit and the children’s arts tax credit.

Speaker, do you care to ask why they eliminated it? For the same reason that the Liberals under Kathleen Wynne decided to scrap their own program: Because it disproportionately benefited high-income families that didn’t need this help—so much so, in fact, that the Department of Finance Canada released a report in 2017 that found there was very little evidence to support the idea that these tax credits were effective at all. Not only does the report indicate that these programs were disproportionately helping families with higher incomes; it showed that the programs failed to get even more kids enrolled in extracurricular activities.

I simply don’t understand, Speaker. If the Liberals here at Queen’s Park and Ottawa discontinued these failed programs themselves, why are they trying to déjà vu and bring them back? All I see here, Speaker, is the same old policies, same old mistakes and same old Liberals. Speaker, they just don’t get it. They’ll cost Ontarians more and they know it.

I’d like to put our differences aside for a minute here. Myself, as a father of four children, I understand how important it is to have children in extracurricular and sports activities for their well-being. I know that many colleagues from all political stripes in this House who are also parents understand the importance of having kids in all these extracurricular activities. At the end of the day, we all want the same thing: that is, to give our kids the best childhood they could possibly have.

As I said in my remarks, these are difficult and challenging times for parents and families in the province. Life is getting more expensive, and families across the province are paying more and more for their bills. But what if they didn’t have to, Speaker? What if, instead of having to choose between filling up gas to drive their kids to hockey practice and making a fresh, nutritious lunch for school, they could afford both? It was with this question in mind that our government set out to build our plan to keep costs down for families in Ontario.

The results of our actions speak for themselves, Speaker. Our government’s efforts to keep costs down will total $8.4 billion—that’s “billion,” not “million”—in relief for Ontario families and individuals in 2023-24 alone, savings for Ontario families. These are real dollars saved by real families, and these savings can be seen across the province.

I have a simple proposal to make for my Liberal colleagues in opposition, Speaker: If Bonnie Crombie and the rest of her team wanted to truly help parents who are struggling with the high cost of living, all they had to do was vote in favour of our government’s 2024 budget today. But instead, they voted against giving parents relief.

The budget contained real cost-saving measures to help Ontario families. For starters, there’s an extension to the gas and fuel tax cuts which we implemented in 2022. That’s a saving of 10 cents per litre every single time you go to the pump and fill up your tank, go to work and take your kids to hockey practice.

Then, there are our protections from any future Liberal or NDP carbon taxes here in the province of Ontario. That gives confidence and certainty to families who need it right now that they won’t have to pay more to heat their homes or buy groceries.

Also, how about our new One Fare program, Speaker? Talk about the so-called $1,000 Liberal tax credit? One Fare is saving riders across the entire GTA $1,600 a year. No more paying a double fare if you want to take the GO train down to see the Jays or the Leafs or go away with your family on the weekend to Niagara.

For the parents whose kids are all grown up and starting to save in the next chapter of their lives at college or university, our government is extending the tuition freeze for publicly assisted post-secondary schools here in the province for three more years. That’s another $1,600 in savings per year if you go to university and $350 if you go to college—real dollars for real people.

I haven’t even talked about the $23 billion we’re investing to build more schools and child care spaces here in the province or about our ban on new road tolls on 400-series highways and our freeze on driver’s licence and photo card fees that is saving drivers $66 million over the next five years—like I said, more relief and cost-saving measures than I have time to count.

To wrap up, I’d just like to thank my colleagues who joined our Premier, our Minister of Finance and our government in voting for the 2024 budget. I wish the members opposite could say the same.

Point of order.

My apologies to the member. I recognize the member from Don Valley East.

Further debate?

It is the member from Oakville—

I’m pleased to rise today to debate Bill 178, the Promoting Leisure Activities for Youth Act, the PLAY Act, especially since I was not given the opportunity yesterday to debate Bill 180, the budget act. Thank you to my colleague from Orléans for his excellent debate and presentation on this very important bill.

Speaker, this government promised during the 2018 election to give middle-income families a tax break, a promise that remains broken six long years later. Bill 178 is an opportunity to help fulfill that promise by supporting children and their families to make extracurricular activities for kids more affordable.

This government has shirked their responsibilities and spent much of the last six months talking about what more the federal government should do to make life more affordable, because this Conservative government cancelled cap-and-trade. By the way, under this government’s non-existent plan to protect the environment, the amount of green energy in our grid had decreased from 92% under the Liberal government to 86% under this one—and oh, by the way, the Liberal government eliminated smog days, which still benefits the health of all Ontarians, including the kids we’re talking about today in Bill 178.

What this government does not talk about are all the things the federal government has done to make life more affordable, like introducing $10-a-day child care, the rollout of which has been completely bungled by this government; or the Canada child benefit, which has lifted over 400,000 children, many of them here in Ontario, out of poverty; or the Housing Accelerator Fund, which granted Ontario municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to expedite the development of affordable housing. So today we’re here to talk about something this government could do that was not done in their budget, which I was not allowed to debate yesterday, that would help them keep their broken promise to give middle-income families a tax break right here at home in Ontario.

Speaker, we know that extracurricular activities are important for children’s development. We know that children suffered during the COVID pandemic from a lack of in-person learning, and also a lack of access to friends and learning opportunities at their extracurricular activities. So supporting kids by helping more families access extracurricular activities is even more important now, as more and more kids are struggling with mental health challenges. This bill is a fantastic opportunity for this government to support Ontario families by making their kids’ activities more affordable. Whether it’s a sport, music, arts or STEM programs, Bill 178 will help make those activities more accessible to kids and families by making them more affordable. That will help kids develop and grow, and it will support their mental health.

Bill 178 would encourage extracurricular activities and the well-being of children at a time when so many children are struggling with mental health, in an environment where digital fatigue and social media burnout are becoming increasingly common, because phone usage is up post-pandemic, impacting their ability to engage meaningfully with the world and their peers.

Regardless of party, I believe all members want the children of Ontario to thrive and be healthy, mentally and physically. Research has found that engaging in extracurricular activities helps reduce stress, improve mood and provide a sense of purpose and fulfillment for students. It develops students’ cultural and social capital, says the People for Education of Ontario.

With the affordability challenges our province is facing post-COVID, we must not neglect extracurriculars for children. This bill will provide an incentive for families and allow children to participate in the activities they want to participate in. Giving up to $1,000 back to families would help offset the fees that may prevent them from being entered into sports, arts or outside opportunities.

The education minister proposed measures relating to restrictions on cellphone use and vaping. Bill 178 complements these efforts to reduce distraction in classrooms by giving kids more opportunity for positive activities to engage in. I encourage all members to support Bill 178, to support our kids and families by making extracurricular activities more affordable. Where the budget failed to support kids with after-school programs, this bill steps up to do just that.