Thank you to the member opposite for the important question—a very important question. As we all know, especially coming out of the pandemic, mental health is more of a need and a priority as well. Under the Minister of Education, as I mentioned earlier in the debate, we’ve increased to historic levels of mental health funding. It also is a government-wide approach. I know that the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and the Minister of Health herself are looking at mental health, those aspects, within our school system. I know in some areas of the province the family health teams will go into the schools with a mental health practitioner they may have on their team to ensure that there is that oversight and that support within our larger health care system and within the community.

Speaker, our government is focused on getting schools built and updated. Some $15 billion over 10 years, as I mentioned earlier in the debate, for school capital development. One of the first things going into my role as PA to education after the last election was learning how much—I didn’t realize, as a layman—education oversees the real estate portfolio it oversees.

And it’s getting more schools built, which is a change from the previous Liberal government, and ensuring that those schools are built quickly as well and ensuring that those resources are used to the maximum efficiency.

Speaker, I find it very rich from the members opposite, talking about big government when that party supports, essentially, communism.

It’s a pleasure for me to rise in this chamber to provide my full support for Bill 98, Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act.

Speaker, there’s nothing more important than preparing our young people for lifelong success, and if we want to get the education system working the way that it should, we need to pass this legislation. It is really that simple. In my riding of Perth–Wellington, parents have made it clear that while they believe in the promise of public education, they also want an education system to do a much better job of getting their kids ready for the workforce. That means more reading, more math, more science and an introduction to the skilled trades.

Before I get to the merits of the bill, I want to take this opportunity to thank the Minister of Education and the parliamentary assistant for everything they have done. I had the pleasure of working alongside both the minister and PA Barnes for several months after the last election before I was moved to municipal affairs and housing. I can tell this chamber that the minister is incredibly passionate about reforming the education system and has accomplished a great deal so far. And as both a mom and a former trustee for the Durham District School Board, the parliamentary assistant and the member for Ajax, Patrice Barnes, is incredibly knowledgeable about both the internal workings of our school boards and the state of the education system at the grassroots level. Both are driving transformational change in our education system, and I applaud them on their progress so far and everything they have accomplished. The province’s students are in good hands.

This province’s education system needs some transformational change, because the stakes could not be higher in these times. Ontario is facing the largest shortage of skilled labour in a generation. Right now, there are more than 100,000 unfilled skilled trades jobs across the province. It’s projected that by 2026, approximately one in five job openings in Ontario will be in skilled-trades-related fields. It is estimated that more than 40% of jobs in Canada are at high risk of getting disrupted by technology. So it’s crucial that we prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow.

We’re taking decisive action, and we’re getting it done. Ever since our government was first elected five years ago, we have been busy updating the province’s curriculum to ensure it does a better job of reflecting the changing needs in our labour market. More specifically, that has meant making financial literacy and digital fluency key priorities; investing $200 million to support a four-year math strategy; teaching valuable transferable skills such as leadership, communication, collaboration and critical thinking; promoting the skilled trades as a top choice for a career path for young people; increasing awareness and access to apprenticeship programs; and, obviously, improving science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, learning across Ontario and our public school system.

In addition to the $200 million for the math strategy, we’re also investing more than $71 million in 2023-24 in a new math plan that doubles the number of school math coaches in the classroom and expands access to digital math tools that students and parents can access at any time.

I’m proud to add that the government of Ontario is once again building new schools, after a decade under the previous Liberal government when we saw the closure of 600 schools across Ontario, many in rural communities. More specifically, our government is investing approximately $15 billion over 10 years to build new schools, improve existing educational facilities and create new child care spaces for hard-working families.

These are pretty significant investments, which is why I’m confident that our government is on the right track. But there’s only so much we can do and accomplish without drafting new legislation. If passed, the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will increase accountability by giving parents new tools to navigate and understand the education system and establish basic qualifications for directors of education.

Bill 98 will allow the minister to establish key priorities to ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need, especially in areas such as reading, writing and math. As a matter of fact, the Ontario Human Rights Commission recently provided written submissions on Bill 98. I just want to have a brief quote: “The OHRC is pleased in see that Bill 98 lays the groundwork for an education system unified with a focus on improving student outcomes in the important lifelong skill of reading.”

Just as an aside, Speaker, I have to wonder how my honourable colleagues in the New Democratic, Liberal and Green parties feel about opposing a bill that enjoys the full support of the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

In any case, my colleagues and I are incredibly excited about the actions our government is taking to improve our education system and outcomes for young people, but I think we need to talk a little bit about resources.

Speaker, our government has increased the Ministry of Education’s investments every year since we took office. In fact, we have announced more than $27.6 billion in total education funding to school boards for this fiscal year, 2023-24—the highest investment in public education in the province’s history. We’re doing our part, and we’re providing school boards with valuable resources, but some school boards are claiming they can’t make do, even with record investments in education. Something doesn’t add up.

What many Ontarians don’t realize is that the education sector is sitting on the largest vertical real estate portfolio within the broader public sector, with over 4,600 open or operating schools. But there’s a lack of standardization on how school boards should manage this considerable number of assets.

Additionally, we have seen across the province that boards will not rent or sell unused schools to competing boards, or when there are underused schools in some areas of the board’s jurisdiction while other areas require new schools.

The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act will maximize the capital assets held by school boards by:

—strengthening the province’s oversight over the use, sale and development of school board real estate, including surplus properties;

—setting authority to direct the joint use of schools;

—streamlining approvals in high-growth areas;

—requiring school boards to work with municipalities on urban planning—and as the now-parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, I know we’re also working with the Ministry of Education to ensure that we are planning growth in the right areas and ensuring that schools are built in high-growth areas, and innovative solutions, whether that is a school in a new condo building or a school in a new community;

—setting authority to direct school boards to utilize standardized designs.

Speaker, I believe that parents and the public will support a more effective use of public resources, especially if our reforms make it easier to get schools built—and faster—when their children are ready to attend them. We must get more classrooms into the communities that need them ASAP.

Overall, the big picture is this: Ontario school boards receive over $27 billion in provincial funding and operate over 4,800 school facilities and a complex system of student transportation. Parents, families and taxpayers demand and deserve greater transparency and accountability into how their education system is managed and how the system’s resources are managed.

Our reforms are very much in line with the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Learning that was chaired by former Liberal cabinet minister Monique Begin and long-time New Democrat Gerald Caplan in the mid-1990s. To quote the 1994 report: “We recommend the transfer of several key responsibilities away from boards. We believe that determining the level of each board’s expenditures, for example, should be the ministry’s job.” The fact that this report was tabled when I was four years old and we still have not moved on it—I’m glad to see that our government is finally taking action and moving forward with some of the recommendations outlined in it.

I can also cite the 2012 Drummond report that my colleague also mentioned in her remarks, commissioned by former Premier Dalton McGuinty. In the words of the Drummond report, “Efficiency can also be found by maximizing the value of school board capital assets. Where schools have been closed or consolidated because of declining enrolment, school boards have surplus properties. The minister should have the power to order the sale of unused properties, especially when such dispositions could meet other needs in the BPS.”

Speaker, to summarize, we’re getting the job done. We’re providing schools and school boards with the resources they need to educate our children. We are once again building and improving schools after a decade of school closures under the previous Liberal government. We are taking action to ensure that our precious tax dollars are supporting our youth.

Thank you to the member opposite for her remarks. I just want to correct some misnomers I’ve been hearing this morning. Our government increased the Grants for Student Needs this year in the budget—which the members opposite voted against—by over $600 million. We also built upon our historic investments in mental health by—the last budget prior to the election was a 400% increase since we formed government in 2018. We added to that again this year.

My question to the members opposite is when will they join this government in supporting students and vote for this bill?

Thank you to my colleague for his comments on the Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act. He was referring to having the proper books and the proper curriculum for our students, and I couldn’t agree more, Speaker. I know our government is really taking a serious look at that in updating the curriculum. Under the previous Liberal government, unfortunately, they chose not to do that, and so when our government formed our first government in 2018, I know our Minister of Education made that a top priority.

And so we are now legislating this review of curriculum, implementing a mandatory curriculum review process: no fewer than three years, no matter who the government is, no matter who the minister is. Does the member opposite support that, and will they support this bill?

I didn’t know that.