I just want to wish my fiancée a happy birthday. It’s her birthday on Saturday. Happy birthday, Meghan.

I appreciate my colleague for her speech. I’m new in this House, but I am always impressed by my colleagues filling an hour, and I appreciated her remarks.

My question: Lots of my colleagues of the younger generation are used to working from home now, or remotely, and some of us haven’t even gone into the offices we may work at. In this piece of legislation, as the minister announced earlier—last week I believe—workers working from home—remotely—obviously deserve the same protections as an employee in an office. So when a company announces a mass termination, remote workers obviously deserve the same rights as those on site. Can the member explain whether they support this proposal to include remote workers in mass terminations and ensure they have the same rights as those who are on site on a work site?

My question is to the Minister of Education. I also want to personally thank him for his advice and friendship in our time working together.

Ontario’s population is growing rapidly. Our government is ensuring that we’re building houses, but we also must ensure that we’re providing the next generation of Ontario students with the skills they need to succeed. For over a decade and a half, the previous Liberal government neglected to prepare our students for the jobs of tomorrow that are absolutely required to build and sustain Ontario. In the construction sector alone, we know we will need 70,000 workers by 2027 to meet our province’s growing infrastructure needs. New knowledge and skills must be taught to our students so that they will be successfully prepared to fill the jobs that are so desperately needed.

Can the minister please explain how our government is equipping our students for lifelong careers that will build Ontario for generations to come?

Speaker, can the minister please explain what actions our government is taking to ensure that our students are exposed to the opportunities that are available in the skilled trades and other technology fields?

I’m pleased to rise to welcome Steve Harrison, CEO of Tri-County Mennonite Homes, who is here as part of AdvantAge Ontario’s advocacy day.

I’d also like to introduce Steve and Vivi Goettler from my riding of Perth–Wellington, owners of Goettler fine furniture. They are also the proud parents of George Goettler, who many of us in this place know. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

Thank you to my colleague for the great speech—I really enjoyed listening to his words—and the great work he does for his constituents in Niagara.

I wonder if my colleague—he mentioned it in his speech, on the reduced load periods. I also have a lot of rural roads and dirt roads in my riding. It’s something that I hear often from my municipalities, but also the farmers and the truckers—around the reduced load periods and the important work this legislation does for that. I was just wondering if my colleague could elaborate a bit about how this model works, how it will roll out, and how it will support our municipalities to make those decisions.

It’s my pleasure to rise in this place to recognize the Wellington Heights senior girls volleyball team. For the first time in their history, the senior girls volleyball team captured the district 4 championship. After losing the first set of the semifinal match against Norwell, the Wolverines battled back, taking the next three straight sets to win. They would go on to beat Westside Secondary in the final to take the district 4 senior girls volleyball championship and earn a spot at the CWOSSA tournament. At CWOSSA, they made it all the way to the semifinals before losing a hard-fought battle with Delhi District Secondary School, ultimately placing third in the tournament.

I want to personally congratulate the entire team on winning the district 4 senior girls volleyball championship and making history. You should all be very proud of each other and your accomplishments and your showing at CWOSSA. Thank you to coach Kosempel and coach Barnard for your supporting this amazing team on their journey. Thank you to the entire community for cheering on your Wolverines. Go, Wolverines!

My question is to my great colleague from Chatham-Kent–Leamington. He mentioned some great examples of young people getting into the health care profession, and it’s great to see that. I just wondered if he could elaborate on some of our government’s good investments—I know it’s benefiting rural Ontario with the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant.

Ontario’s provincial parks attract local, national and international visitors. The natural environment found at each of our parks reflects each region’s beauty, uniqueness and diversity. With so much to offer, it’s not surprising that Ontario’s provincial parks are experiencing growing numbers, and visitors are eager to take advantage of our parks and to spend time with their friends and family—and I know my friends and family enjoy spending time at our provincial parks as well, Speaker. Visitors can spend their day camping, hiking, canoeing or just relaxing in a wide range of activities and programs at over 330 locations across Ontario.

Speaker, can the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks tell us how our government is supporting Ontario’s parks system?

The Ontario Parks system is the province’s largest outdoor recreation provider, offering a wide range of activities and opportunities. When our parks and facilities are well maintained, our guests are better served, making their stay all the more enjoyable.

Speaker, can the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks please elaborate on what specific investments our government has made to update and improve Ontario’s provincial parks?

I rise to introduce Craig Thompson, president and executive producer of Ballinran Entertainment, who is here for film day in Ontario, Speaker.

Thank you to my honourable colleague for that great question, and to rise and talk about some of the initiatives. Just so the House is aware, my riding, the catchment area, has the lowest unemployment rate in Ontario—2.6%, I believe, was the last statistic. So if you know anyone who needs a job, please tell them to come to my riding. If you can walk and talk and show up on time, they will give you a job and they will train you. It can be a variety of jobs.

Our government, obviously, is hearing this from businesses across Ontario, and so the investments in the Skills Development Fund, the $40 million extra in that, I think demonstrates our government’s commitment to going above and beyond to meet that demand and continue to build Ontario and working with our federal colleagues, as has been alluded to earlier today in this House, to get more new Canadians to come to Ontario and have a bigger say over the provincial nomination program.

The learn and stay grant, which we announced earlier this year, is making a significant impact in our rural hospitals. It’s attracting nurses and health care workers to our hospitals. In rural Ontario, prior to the COVID pandemic—it’s hard to think of way back then, prior to 2020, in March. But in my area where I’m from, and I’m sure similar to Niagara West, I’m assuming, there was already a shortage of health care workers because it was hard to attract and retain health care workers.

Our government is doing our best to address that issue through the learn and stay grant, encouraging people and providing money for them to pay for their tuition, to relocate to those communities and to work in our rural hospitals.

Thank you, Speaker. I will also be sharing my time with the great member from Niagara West, who gave me a resounding round of applause there, as well.

It’s my honour to rise today to speak to some of the critical investments our government is making under our fall economic statement. Whether it’s our plan to build, expanding our investments in the skilled trades, or being there for our most vulnerable, our government, under the leadership of Premier Ford, is taking historic steps to ensure Ontario is kept on the right path.

Speaker, let’s not forget it was just over four years ago that Ontario was holding on by a thread. Thousands of manufacturing jobs were being lost, hydro rates were skyrocketing, and Ontarians were losing hope. Since then, our government has pushed forward with the real priorities of Ontarians, standing strong throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and now taking the necessary steps to recover and grow.

Our progress report on our budget measures highlights our resolve and determination to get things done for Ontarians on all fronts.

Ontario is not the only jurisdiction facing labour shortages, a housing crisis and cost-of-living strains, but our government is making every effort to ensure that we’re among the first to overcome these challenges through a variety of tax relief initiatives, infrastructure investments and digital innovations.

First and foremost, our government understands and values and respects the needs of our taxpayers. We are managing the provincial debt in a responsible and respectful manner. Just this past September, our government announced the deficit for the 2021-22 fiscal year had been eliminated, and while it may not always be the case going forward with each passing year, our government will always remain steadfast as we look to ensure that taxpayers’ dollars are spent wisely.

Our plan to build hinges on the connectivity of people, communities and businesses across Ontario. Our government’s plan highlights $25 billion over the next decade to support planning and construction of highways and rehabilitation projects like Highway 413, the Bradford Bypass, the QEW Garden City Skyway and many others—including in my own riding of Perth–Wellington, $1.4 million for Highway 89 in Mount Forest and $1.3 million on Ontario Street in Stratford. And I want to apologize to my constituents—there’s a joke that there are two seasons in Ontario, construction season and winter, and it really felt this way in my riding this summer. But it’s great to see the provincial government making these investments, as outlined in the fall economic statement.

Beyond this, our government is allocating $61 billion over the next 10 years towards public transit, connecting people across a variety of different communities and allowing them to engage in broader local, regional and provincial economies. More specifically, this will support even larger-scale transit projects such as the Ontario Line to the Ontario Science Centre, connecting over 40 transit hubs including GO train lines, TTC lines and the Eglinton Crosstown light-rail transit line, and including, through the Community Transportation Grant Program system under Minister Mulroney, transportation in my riding of Perth–Wellington. We are including transportation in rural Ontario, which is something that unfortunately has been lost in previous governments in this place. These transit funds will also support GO train expansion outside of the GTA—nothing against my great GTA colleagues, but we do need to expand the GO train beyond the greater Golden Horseshoe, to communities such as Stratford and St. Marys. These investments will reduce emissions, cut commuting times, and allow families to spend more time together.

Speaker, the opposition never wastes an opportunity to call for more transit investments, which is why I’m calling on all opposition MPPs here today to join our government in advancing this important shared priority, and to show that they’re really fighting for their constituents and not just counting political points.

However, with or without our opposition colleagues, our government is fully aware of what Ontarians are looking for from us. We heard it loud and clear this past June, when people right across the province gave this government a mandate to build more infrastructure, invest in our health care and schools, and keep costs down for families and businesses.

Our government has committed more than $40 billion over the next 10 years in hospital infrastructure, supporting more than 50 additional major hospital projects—a historic investment—and community health care centres, adding 3,000 new beds over that time period.

And in light of the financial pressures on families and businesses across the province that they have been facing over the last few years, our government is making sure that we take every step to ensure families can live comfortably and businesses can thrive.

In spring 2022, recognizing the effects of inflation and geopolitical circumstances, our government cut the provincial gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre. Statistics Canada has shown that this cut has contributed significantly to the decline in gas prices across Ontario and has helped lower the consumer price index. We’re proposing, under the fall economic statement, to extend that to the end of 2023.

Furthermore, our government has continued to take leadership in streamlining business operations and reducing costs for complying with regulations, saving businesses, not-for-profits, municipalities, universities, colleges, hospitals and school boards $576 million per year. The integrated impacts of these cost-saving measures are reflected by an increase in total real business investment in Ontario by $9.7 billion between the second quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2022. More than just that, our government has overseen a 5.2% increase over the same time period in investments by Ontario businesses in real intellectual property rights, ranking the highest in the nation for the portion of small and medium enterprises reporting ownership of IP.

Speaker, when we look back at where we were as a province just four and a half years ago, it’s amazing to see how well this government has been able to turn around our economy, while steering us through such unprecedented times. All of these indicators reflect the important strategic advantages our government is putting in place for businesses across the province, across a variety of sectors, to succeed not only on a regional and national level, but on an international level. Our government has full faith that we as a government are willing and able to create the right business environment, with a balance of market freedoms and regulations, and Ontario businesses will thrive. That is precisely what this progress report indicates.

Expanding on this, our government’s plan to build will naturally support the expansion of skilled trades throughout this province, further promoting lucrative and fulfilling job opportunities for young Ontarians. We have lifted the minimum wage, invested in dual-credit programs and expanded the Skills Development Fund. Our government has made significant strides in addressing our labour shortage, ensuring that Ontarians can play an important role in the growth and development of our great province.

As outlined in the fall economic statement, we are investing an additional $40 million in 2022-23 for a total of $145 million for the latest round of the Skills Development Fund. I know many organizations in my riding take advantage of this. The Technical Training Group, for example, does amazing work to encourage young people and people who have also gone on to post-secondary but want to get into the trades, which is very key. There are thousands and thousands of jobs in the skilled trades, and we need people to join us in building Ontario, and this investment will do just that.

We’re also investing—which I am personally very excited about—an additional $4.8 million in the Dual Credit Program. We have heard over and over that we need more ECEs in our province, and this investment will help us expand that over the next two years and will help us realize a $10-a-day child care agreement which we signed with the federal government earlier this year.

Speaker, we’re constantly looking to improve and expand opportunities for all Ontarians, and we’re also ensuring no one gets left behind. Whether it’s low-income workers and families, individuals with disabilities, or seniors who have given so much to our communities, our government has made it clear that we will continue to support these groups as we grow Ontario for everyone. And in doing so, our government is making significant investments and changes to allow persons with disabilities on the ODSP program to keep more of their money, further increasing the monthly exemptions from $200 per month to $1,000 per month. These proposed changes will allow approximately 25,000 individuals currently in the workforce to keep more of their earnings and encourage as many as 25,000 more individuals to participate in the workforce, which is vitally needed. Since proposing these changes, we’ve heard from numerous partners in the non-profit sector applauding these changes and the positive outcomes this will create for Ontarians. I think it shows our government’s compassionate leadership in being willing to grow our economy but to also support those who are most vulnerable in society.

With that, Speaker, I want to pass it over to my great colleague from Niagara West.

Thank you to my colleague from London–Fanshawe for his contributions to the debate on the fall economic statement.

I was a little perplexed by his comments around small businesses.

In the fall economic statement, we lay it out very clearly that we are providing $180 million in income relief over the next three years for small businesses. Many in my riding employ a lot of people, and we’re supporting them by phasing out the small business tax rate. I was wondering if the member would support that initiative in the fall economic statement.

I just want to rise to introduce Bruce Whitaker from Stratford, a newly elected trustee in the Avon Maitland District School Board, who is here, obviously, as well, for the Ontario Public School Boards’ Association. I look forward to meeting with you after question period, Bruce.

Today I rise to congratulate and recognize an amazing young woman from my riding of Perth–Wellington. Amiera Black is 16 years old, lives in Stratford and is an avid swimmer. She recently competed at the World Down Syndrome Swimming Championships in Portugal. Amiera was one of the youngest swimmers on Team Canada and one of the only two teenagers that competed.

Amiera won an outstanding amount of medals, eight medals in total in the junior division: four gold medals in the 100-metre free, 200-metre free, 100-metre backstroke and 100-metre fly events; and four silver medals in the 500-metre free, 500-metre backstroke, 500-metre fly and 500-metre individual medley.

It’s important to note that many of Amiera’s times would have placed her in the top 10 of the senior division, Speaker.

Amiera will continue to swim in events close to home and, pending a Team Canada decision, maybe in Argentina as well. She is looking forward to the next world championships in Turkey in 2024.

Amiera, you did an amazing job representing yourself, Stratford, and Canada. Congratulations again on winning eight medals at the world championships. I know Stratford and Ontario will be cheering you on for years to come. Go, Amiera, go!

Under the previous Liberal government, the people of Ontario were subjected to the largest regulatory burden in all of Canada. People in business were overwhelmed by red tape and high taxes. In my riding of Perth–Wellington, unnecessary bureaucracy drove away jobs, investments and opportunities for small businesses and farm families in my community.

Our government must implement better solutions to help people and businesses save time and money. While many regulations are essential to protecting people’s health, safety and the environment, nobody benefits from outdated, duplicative or overly complex rules.

What action is our government taking to reduce unnecessary red tape to make life easier for people and businesses in Ontario?

During these times of global economic uncertainty, it’s vital that we as a government take prudent action in providing stability and support to our business community. Reducing red tape on individuals and businesses is a key measure that this government can take to support a robust economic environment, ensuring our small businesses have confidence.

Can the minister please tell this House what is being done to continue to eliminate complicated, duplicative and unnecessary red tape?

It is my pleasure to rise in this place to recognize the good work SE Health does in my riding and across Ontario. SE Health is a not-for-profit health care provider in Ontario. SE Health currently provides nearly 50% of all home care services in Ontario.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with them and representatives locally and touring their location in Palmerston. I had the opportunity to meet Kelly, a community nurse in the town of Minto who works for SE Health. She does important work to support our seniors and those recovering at home from major operations. She is also a community care nurse at Minto-Clifford Public School. I had the opportunity to join her at Minto-Clifford to meet some of her brave patients. No matter the need, Kelly ensures her students are living a healthy and rewarding life. We had a great discussion about how best we can work together to better serve those living in our communities.

I want to thank Kelly for everything she does for our rural communities and the children she helps every day. Our government is committed to helping our elderly remain in their homes longer and ensuring Ontarians receive the right care in the right place. I appreciate everything SE Health does and that all their employees do in my community and across Ontario.

Similar to my colleague just now, I want to welcome the Medical Laboratory Professionals’ Association of Ontario who are in the public gallery above, their staff and board members including Jessie, Lorraine, Michelle, Jeffrey, Andrea, John and Robin who are here in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to discuss how Ontario’s government can further aid our fourth-largest health care profession and support patient health in Ontario. Thank you for being here today.

Thank you to my colleague, obviously, for that great question. The reason we’re here this morning so early is to ensure our students are in class for the entire period from September to June, ensuring that they have the ability to interact with their friends in person, ensuring that they’re able to learn in class and do projects together in class and to experience everything we all remember from our time in elementary school and high school and beyond. So this is why we are here today: to ensure that our students remain in class moving forward.

We have been committed since the election—the Premier, the Minister of Education have been clear: We cannot tolerate any disruptions to in-person learning, so we will be in this House to ensure that students can remain in the classroom from September to June, Speaker.

It’s simple math that the opposition seems not to be able to do, Speaker.

While Ontarians in the private sector have faced wage stagnation and, in many cases, benefit rollbacks, CUPE believes it is reasonable to demand more than 11% in compensation annually for the next four years and, if not met, that Ontario students—who have suffered, as I’ve mentioned, extensively over the past two years—should be forced to bear the burden when the union once again goes on strike.

As education workers march steadfastly toward another strike, they’re being offered a deal that includes salary increases, year after year, and the protection of one of the most generous pension benefit plans in the nation. This includes 11 paid sick days at full pay and 120 short-term-leave days at 90% of their salary. By comparison, a worker working the same job at Porter Airlines—a great company—receives just five paid sick days and a pension plan that is not even remotely comparable.

CUPE’s eagerness to pursue another strike is unfortunate but expected. Education unions in this province have subjected parents and students to the same tactics of disruptions over many years. Before I was born, in 1989—since then, Ontario students have spent a total of 2,244 days out of the classroom due to union-driven strikes. Together, that totals over six years of being out of the classroom. To put that into context, that’s more than a student would spend in all of high school, even when there was an additional year of instruction for grade 13. I remember the strikes when I was in school, as well.

And it doesn’t matter the government: I want to remind members of all parties in this House that a common denominator of these strikes, as I mentioned, is not the Premier nor the political party. No, Speaker—for the NDP, in just one term—and I’m here to improve the name of Rae in this place—over 1,000 instructional days were lost in the classroom due to union-led disruptions. My Liberal colleagues in this House faced the same types of walkouts and school closures. For nearly—

Interjections.

There is only one commonality in classroom disruptions, and it occurs almost like clockwork. That commonality, Speaker, is the education unions. That’s not fair, that’s not reasonable and it’s not acceptable. To that end, we will guarantee Ontario students remain in the classroom where they belong, where they’re best positioned to recover from the lost studies and learn the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. While CUPE is choosing to impose strikes on Ontario families, parents and kids, Ontario’s government is choosing to keep kids in class.

To the grade 11 students I recently had the privilege to visit, those attending commencement, the students who are again learning in person and participating in extracurricular activities, know this: Your government, Premier Ford, Minister Lecce and all of us on this side of the House will not allow your school year to be robbed from you. And to the parents of Ontario: You can be assured that your children will remain in class with a normal, stable, enjoyable school year from September to June.

To her question about this bill in particular, we’re ensuring students stay in class so they can have those supports, and providing a good and fair deal to the union and CUPE.

Our government has been at the negotiating table, as has already been mentioned, for over two months with this particular bargaining group, we offered them a fair deal, and they still chose to proceed with strike action. And we increased our amount this past Sunday, Speaker. We increased the amount to 10% over a four-year term for the lowest-paid workers: $43,000 is the limit; we raised that too. We provided an additional deal to them, and they still chose to pursue the strike. So, unfortunately, we are here in this place debating this piece of legislation to ensure students stay in school on November 4 and moving forward.

I’m getting to the best part, member from Brampton North.

These investments include an additional $683 million in this budget we just passed for this year’s funding to school boards, for a total of $26.6 billion. I want to compare this to the NDP-backed Liberal government just a few short years ago, Speaker. Our Progressive Conservative government and this Premier are investing more than $2.7 billion this year compared to the final year of the last previous Liberal government. This clearly demonstrates our commitment to improving student success, in contrast to the failed policies and practices of the previous NDP-backed Liberal government. These investments will go directly into our children’s classrooms to ensure they receive the top-quality education they deserve and the high standard of learning parents rightly demand.

What our students learn in the classroom is directly correlated to their future success. As such, we must continue to update Ontario’s various curricula, guaranteeing the instruction of necessary life and job skills to support a family and one day realize the dream of home ownership, and everything else included in the Canadian dream.

The previous Liberal government failed at nearly every turn to ensure our children’s studies kept up with the changing times. Neglected by the previous Liberal government, Ontario schools failed to address a rapidly changing world. I’ll provide an example, Speaker: Ontario’s elementary science and technology curriculum, which this government, under Minister Lecce, swiftly modernized, was last updated in 2007, the year Facebook and Twitter came online. This is unacceptable, and our government has made it a priority to constantly look for new ways to update and modernize curricula in ways that best work for students.

Another example includes Ontario’s grade 9 math curriculum, which the Liberals neglected to update since 2008, the same year the iPhone 3G was introduced. This neglect was shameful, and that’s partly why, in 2018 and again in 2022, the people of Ontario sent the Ontario Liberal Party to be independent members on the opposite benches in record-low numbers, and elected this party and this Premier, not once but twice, with a greater majority. Speaker, in doing so, the people of Ontario have given our government a renewed mandate to ensure student success is well-funded and looked after, and, most importantly, that students remain in class.

Ontario’s students deserve to learn in an environment that best equips them for the future. Our schools will finally include financial literacy, something the opposition previously neglected. For the first time, Ontario students will learn about mortgages, interest payments and the impacts of debt accumulation. These are foundational aspects of sound fiscal management which will help them succeed in life.

Students in Ontario and, indeed, across this nation and the western world have experienced declines in math. This cannot be understated, and we will not allow it to be so. We are investing $25 million in a new skills-focused curriculum that will ensure every board has a math specialist available with a special focus on early intervention. This government is also fighting the unions in court to ensure educators meet grade 9 math standards. Our students deserve no less than this common-sense requirement for education, and our government will keep taking every step necessary to ensure teachers are well-equipped to do their job.

For the past four years, this government placed a critical emphasis on science, engineering, technology and math, or STEM studies, in our classrooms. These subjects contain not only the keys to many successful futures for our students, but they represent areas of need in this province that will grow as time progresses. The success of Ontario’s future economy depends on the actions we take now. Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is ensuring that students will now explore how science relates to careers in the skilled trades and how emerging and new technologies impact these careers. These new learning expectations within the curriculum will ensure Ontario’s students are at the forefront of emerging innovation and thought, and able to compete in the global economy.

Our government has transformed the curriculum to now emphasize STEM education across all grades, embedding life and job skills that will support the next generation of scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs. For the first time in Ontario’s history, the revised curriculum includes required learning on real-world connections between science, technology, engineering and mathematics. And it includes food literacy. Coming from Perth–Wellington, it is great to see that that is included in the curriculum as well at such a young age, teaching our students the importance of our agricultural sector, food and healthy eating.

This government is also committed to building state-of-art schools which will play a major role in providing top-quality education spaces for Ontario students who need them now more than ever. Our classrooms are critical to the learning recovery for our students.

But, Speaker, we know that success inside the classroom can always use some help from outside the classroom. It is for this reason our government invested $176 million to expand free school-based—through school boards—tutoring supports, the largest publicly funded tutoring program ever in Canada for the students who need it the most. This investment will be used to improve the foundational reading and writing skills of our earliest learners, and to support them with better math literacy after a global decline during the two-year pandemic-related disruptions. This follows our government’s $15-million investment to deliver expanded summer learning opportunities.

Of course, Speaker, we know that schools provide much more than a space for education. Schools have always been important social settings for our kids to make friends and build life-lasting relationships. So it is clear, particularly for our young people, that pandemic-related disruptions have had a profound impact on the mental health of young people. Speaker, mental health is health. Our government and this Premier have made it a point to expand access to mental health supports well before the pandemic, but now more than ever, our children need our help.

This government is proud to have invested a historic $90 million in mental health supports for students, including an additional $10 million in new funding to expand access to much-needed mental health supports. For context, this investment represents a 420% increase on investment compared to the last mandate of the Wynne Liberal government. On this side of the chamber, we understand the critical importance that schools play in the lives of our students. That is why we must fight to make sure they stay in class, where they deserve to be.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support our newly re-elected government’s continued determination to provide financial relief to hard-working Ontario families. It is real and tangible economic support at the most crucial of times that also respects the choice of parents. Through Support for Families, Support for Learners and the COVID-19 child benefit, our government, under our last mandate, made over $1.6 billion available in financial relief to Ontario families in the uncertain economic times of the pandemic. Mr. Speaker, it was shameful that the opposition voted against all three initiatives to support families and provide relief.

Recently, this government has added to already historic levels of direct support to parents, as I mentioned, by announcing the education catch-up payments, which I am pleased to say, as of this morning, 972,000 families have applied for. This is $365 million in financial relief put directly in the pockets of Ontario parents, which will help ensure our students recover from learning losses accrued during the pandemic and allow parents, who are best suited to make these decisions, to do so.

It is worth noting that every step of the way, as I mentioned, the NDP and the Liberals have opposed this financial relief because they believe in a one-size-fits-all approach drawn up by downtown Toronto bureaucrats far away from the families in need.

There is only one political party in this Legislature which consistently stands on the side of parents, and I’m proud to be a member of that party supporting parents and providing stability to students at every turn.

CUPE’s decision to walk out on students in this province by imposing a needless, but predictable, strike only proves their lack of support for the ones who need it the most: the students.

Speaker, I would like to take the time to set the record straight in this place: At no point, throughout the months of negotiation, has CUPE budged on their demand for a nearly 50% increase in compensation over four years—

Interjections.