It’s my pleasure to rise and speak to Bill 149, which is the government’s fourth kick at the can at bringing forward legislation when it comes to workers in the province of Ontario. What’s interesting is, there are some things in this bill that the NDP were talking about before the government drafted the first bill. One can only draw the conclusion that had the government actually consulted labour, consulted the workers and the unions in this province before even the first bill, we wouldn’t be to the point where there’s now a fourth bill—we wouldn’t have needed a second bill; we wouldn’t have needed a third. If they had just actually consulted with labour—we heard from workers and unions around this province that this government didn’t do that. They didn’t actually talk to the workers in this province to find out what was needed.

Speaker, I’m going to start by briefly talking about anti-scab labour legislation, which is glaringly missing from this fourth bill. It’s something that we, as New Democrats, passed during an NDP government and that the next Conservative government immediately ripped up. We have had 16 attempts now, through successive Liberal and Conservative governments, to bring back anti-scab legislation, and every single one of those times the Conservatives voted against it. They’ll have another opportunity tomorrow to support our bill, when it’s debated, and I would hope they would do that, because that would be working for workers.

The member for Glengarry–Prescott–Russell and the member for Newmarket–Aurora talked a lot about firefighters and presumptive legislation, the important work the firefighters do, the life-saving work firefighters do, and I don’t think anybody in this House is going to argue with those facts. Nobody is going to argue with those facts. But what I don’t hear the government talking about and what is not in this bill is women workers who are in abusive partnerships, intimate partner violence and the lack of supports for women and their children to be able to leave that abusive situation and to have financial stability, to have the mental health supports that they need in a connected and timely manner, to have access to a shelter bed while they wait for transitional or permanent housing.

They were talking about closing the gender pay gap, but the workers that work within the women’s shelters—those shelters are so underfunded, so incredibly underfunded, and they need very specialized, highly trained people to work with the women and children that come through their doors seeking help. The barriers and the issues that women who are fleeing intimate partner violence or children—their needs are incredibly complex, and the workers that are supposed to be there to support them need very highly specialized training. But these shelters don’t receive enough funding from the government, and so they can’t pay these workers the wage that they deserve. In my community, they don’t even make a living wage.

It is a revolving door of workers because the work is intense and it’s difficult physically, mentally, emotionally. So it’s a revolving door of workers. They have trouble recruiting and retaining workers because you can’t even live off of $17 an hour. You can’t. You certainly can’t buy a home, and good luck finding a place that you can rent because this government cut rent control. You can’t pay for a place to live and feed yourself and your family, so many of these workers end up at a food bank. Imagine that: These are people who dedicate their lives because they love what they do, supporting these women and children, and this government doesn’t think they’re worth even a living wage—not even a living wage.

We have a repair backlog in our not-for-profit affordable social housing in Windsor. Five per cent of social housing in Windsor is uninhabitable because this government won’t fund it—5%. Those are housing units that women and children fleeing domestic violence would be placed in—a home of their own. Can’t use those units. In a housing crisis, this government will not fund the repairs of those units. Last year alone, 31 of the non-profits that run these non-profit affordable social housing units needed more than $26 million just to do repairs for that year. This government gave them less than one sixth of that.

So when we’re talking about working for workers and they want to stand over there—and the member from Newmarket–Aurora talked about non-disclosure agreements for workplace harassment—what are you doing in this bill or anywhere else to actually support women to get out of abusive situations? Speaker, this year, in the last 12 months alone, we have had two women murdered by their spouses, one just within the last two weeks, because there was nowhere for them to go.

These shelters are over capacity. They have done everything that they possibly can. They’re putting women and children in hotel rooms—which they are not funded for, by the way—and are expected to then go and provide food and give them access to these workers that will help try and connect them to the other supports and services they need: the mental health supports that they need, the housing and the food supports that they need. The children, if they have learning disabilities or developmental disabilities—they’re expected to go in there and help with that, but the province doesn’t fund it.

What the province is doing, what this Conservative government is doing, is downloading more and more expectations and responsibilities onto these shelters. There’s no really relevant protected, paid leave for women workers to acknowledge that when they are in an abusive situation or when they are fleeing domestic violence—either on their own or, if they have children, taking their children with them—there’s nothing in this bill or the previous three that addresses the financial precarity those women are in. There’s nothing. And if they need time off work, there are no permanent paid sick days for them to be able to stay home and take care of their children, and deal with the complex issues that those children will be dealing with fleeing domestic violence. There is nothing to ensure that the people who need it the most, the most vulnerable, will actually get the supports and services they need. There’s nothing.

We often talk—the government side does too—about, “You have to recognize intimate partner violence. You need to seek help. We’ve got these different organizations that will help you.” But they don’t fund it. They don’t fund it adequately. And when you’re not paying the highly specialized workers that work at these domestic abuse shelters, when you’re not paying them a living wage, how do you expect them to be able to support the women who are fleeing domestic violence? How do you expect them to do that?

So while I had said earlier—the members opposite were talking about firefighters and the incredibly difficult, physically, mentally, emotionally demanding jobs that they do, and how they save lives. Recognize that the women that work within the sector that support women and children fleeing domestic violence—recognize that their work is physically, emotionally and mentally demanding, and the work they do also saves lives.

Speaker, it’s getting really—it’s so incredibly frustrating that we hear the government constantly talking about supporting workers, supporting women. The reality is that it is 2023—nearly 2024—and women are still having debates about their value: their value to society, their value in the workforce. What is it going to take for this government to actually take it seriously, to actually do something, to actually give a damn?

Because in the meantime, they are continuing, perpetuating, a cycle of women living in poverty, women staying in abusive situations because they feel they have no other option, because they can’t take time off of work to deal with the complexities of the situation that they’re trying to flee. They can’t stay home and support their children. They can’t get access to affordable housing, so if they leave their partner, they could be living on the street.

So I’m going to ask: At what point do the lives of women actually matter to the government? When do they actually matter? There have been 55 femicides in the last two years; 55 women have died as a result of intimate partner violence, because they didn’t have the resources, thanks to the government, to be able to flee the situation—