I want to thank the minister for this and for the investment that she and our government have made in our community in Waterloo region, totalling almost $30 million in STEM funding, which is very important. I know she has spent a lot of time engaging with Laurier, University of Waterloo and Conestoga College and many of our other educational partners in the region.

I’m wondering if she could expand a little bit more—I know she talked about it in her lead, but just what that specific carve-out for the STEM funding means and how that’s going to help these universities and post-secondary institutions train the next in-demand jobs.

This bill requires colleges and universities to develop and implement policies on student mental health and also anti-racism and hate. The government has committed $8 million over three years for the student mental health piece, which, with 47 institutions in Ontario, means $57,000 per institution for each of those three years. There’s no additional funding for colleges and universities to implement the anti-hate policies.

How does the government expect institutions to be successful in developing and implementing these policies when there are no additional resources, and our sector is already in such a financial crisis?

My question is to the Premier. Small businesses have not fully recovered from the pandemic. They are still struggling with inflation and economic uncertainty. The government’s website encourages small businesses to sign up for the Digital Main Street grant program, but this Conservative government told the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas members that the funding for the program will be cancelled in three weeks.

Why is the government abandoning small businesses yet again?