I mean, one of the government members just said, “Yes, we are.” Well, tell that to CUPE 3903 over at York University, who are on strike right now. We’re talking about teaching assistants, contract faculty, graduate assistants, students, frankly, who are just trying to pull their pennies together, working at their university to afford their education, but also to inspire and enlighten the students in their classes. And it’s pretty shameful when we have government—or any authority, at that—trying to interfere with the rights of workers to strike.

Because you know what? When the government turns their back on you, when nothing else seems to work, workers should have the right to say, “Well, enough is enough and I’m going to fight for my rights. I’m going to fight for the wages that I deserve. I’m going to fight for the working conditions that I deserve.” And that’s part of maintaining our post-secondary sector: Workers speak, student workers speak and government is supposed to listen; and that has not been the case consistently here over the last several years.

I just want to share some words from some of the students that we’ve connected with over the last while. And I must say, two of the strongest groups of lobbying activists, I might almost call them, have been OUSA, the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance, and also CFS, the Canadian Federation of Students. The students come. They’re prepared. They’re engaged. They’re ready to have deep and deliberate conversations on how to make schooling better, how to make the post-secondary sector better. Well, here’s something here that I would like to read from some of the students from OUSA: “Housing and transit:

“Access to quality, affordable housing and reliable transportation is essential to a positive post-secondary education experience. Students entering new municipalities to pursue post-secondary education should have access to reliable transportation and be free from the worry of discriminatory and exploitative rental practices.” These are just snippets.

On sector sustainability, OUSA students said: “All willing and eligible students should be able to pursue post-secondary education. However, the shift from publicly funded to publicly assisted post-secondary institutions in Ontario jeopardizes this reality for some students. Provincial operating grants only account for 31.2% of institutional budgets, while student contributions make up 67%.” I don’t know about you, but again, the government should be carrying the lion’s share, not the students crammed in an apartment or having ramen noodles every evening to make ends meet. I would really recommend that the government, if they haven’t, take a look at some of these recommendations.

Let me see some quotes here: One student says, “Hire more staff and pay them adequately.”

“The wait times for mental health, to see someone, are ridiculous, and I know people who can’t even get their meds filled on time.”

“Expand the number of available counsellors and counselling spots per week so students don’t have to wait a month between mental health appointments.”

Students on affordability: “Students can’t afford anything. The majority of us can barely pay for rent or groceries.”

“School is too expensive, making living unaffordable. Students are drowning. I already work two jobs, and I’m struggling to balance tuition, rent, utilities, food expenses.”

“I’m on ODSP. Increase ODSP.”

All of this stuff, you know, calls for money, and not just kind platitudes, not just promises.

Again, I want to reiterate: We’ve seen a rise of hate, of discrimination, of harassment across institutions, and I want to get behind any legislation—I don’t care which party is putting it forward—that speaks to the need to support our students’ mental health, and not just our students, dare I say, but our faculty. My goodness, the weight on the shoulders of contract faculty, who are, frankly, again, often women, often racialized, often 2SLGBTQIA+—there’s a pattern here to everything I’m saying, you know? I want to support that. I want to support an agenda around ending racism and hate in all its forms, but that requires funding.

And I want to say this as well: Yes, freeze the tuition. Our students don’t have enough to keep paying and paying and paying. The reality is that not everyone has a trust fund, and not everybody has that family support system that they can fall back on, the intergenerational wealth of the bank of mom and dad—or dad and dad, or mom and mom, or whoever it might be. Some folks just have to do it the old-fashioned way of working hard, and when that happens, a tuition freeze is a good thing.

But again, this government cannot balance its budget on the back of international students. You can’t do that one day, and then stand up and applaud them the other day. You’ve got to choose how you show up for all students, and all students should be able to have access to education.

I’m going to read a few of the quotes from—let me see. Where is it here? Where did I find it? Oh, yes—from the Canadian Federation of Students: “The federation calls on the provincial government to immediately begin drafting legislation to protect students’ rights to organize, which will amplify student advocacy both on campus and within the province.”

This is really, important, because—you know, it’s funny. We come here in politics and we all have our little party umbrella and our political beliefs, and then we argue and debate. If there’s one thing that you get from a post-secondary institution, you meet people who have very different opinions than yours. Some of them you might absolutely despise. But post-secondary education gives you the tools to learn how to critically think through some of those different opinions. Regardless of what side we’re on, I’d like to think that that’s part of the reason why all of us ran for politics—to support our communities, to represent our communities, but also to be able to engage critically in the important items of the day, recognizing that there are diverse opinions. If we do not fund our post-secondary sector properly, then we directly impact the level, the content, the complexities of conversations and solutions that we get to work together—in any institution, not only in politics—to make our communities better.

So I just want to say thank you to our post-secondary institutions that are punching well above their weight; that have been chronically underfunded for decades by this government and the previous Liberal government; that have had to see a scholastic quality decrease because our faculties are burnt out, because faculty members are often having to commit to hours upon hours of unpaid labour, emotional labour, supporting their students as pseudo mental health counsellors—because they’re not available, because they don’t exist—

That is all the time we have for debate. It is now time for questions.

I thank the member opposite for her comments in the House this afternoon. The member gave us a history lesson on our funding in combatting hate and racism in the province of Ontario.

I was just wondering if the member knew that the government has invested $132 million in an anti-racism strategic plan. I’m wondering if the member knows that we’ve invested $80 million in anti-hate funding initiatives. And I wonder if the member knows that we invested $27 million into the Anti-Racism Directorate.

We know that communities and people across the province are feeling a sense of angst because of the heightened acts of hate we’ve seen, particularly on campuses.

What message does that send to communities—by the NDP voting against this bill?

Thank you very much for that question from the Minister of Multiculturalism and Citizenship, who, by the way, couldn’t even address his own community during question period this morning.

Interjections.

Here’s the deal: As a graduate of women and gender studies from U of T, as someone who has spent the majority of my adult life as a child and youth worker, as a teacher, as a human rights adviser, I come to this place equity-centred. But what I will not do is support a bill that touches on equity and mental health issues in a performative manner and doesn’t actually put funding onto those issues. You cannot address those issues without funding staff, funding human beings, funding departments, actual funding tools to actually support your calling to address mental health issues and inequities in the post-secondary institution.

Madam Speaker, as you know, every student has the right to study at a college or a university. Removing barriers related to mental health, racism, hate, costs will assist students with obtaining a better experience from their campuses.

Bill 166 speaks to taking action in developing mental health policies, combatting hate and racism, and providing students with transparency on the costs being charged by an institution.

To the member opposite: My question is very simple. I’m sure you have read the bill now. What are the good things in this bill?

Further questions?

Report continues in volume B.

Thank you to the member for Toronto–St. Paul’s. I recently met with representatives from the Taddle Creek Family Health Team. They serve over 20,000 patients. They’re located on Bay Street. One of the people that was speaking to me said, “I’m worried about what happens at U of T. You have all these students. We know that there’s some very serious mental health challenges that some students are facing. They have some access to mental health on campus, and then they graduate and they’re on their own.” Can you speak to the government’s track record on providing access to mental health care for young people?

Madam Speaker, so many communities, so many students are watching us here today, and they’re going to watch for the passing of this bill. They’re going to watch to see where parties stand, and I want to go back and ask the member opposite, how important is it that all parties in this Legislature stand up against hate on campus, vote for this bill and send a message of reassurance to the students studying in Ontario that you have a safe place to study?

Thank you to the member from Toronto–St. Paul’s for your very passionate presentation. I know that education is close to your heart, and certainly, you are a subject matter expert.

I’m very interested—because one of the biggest contributors of stress and anxiety and depression for post-secondary students is financial stress. It’s the biggest barrier for students to actually seek support and treatment. The second, of course, is the wait-list to get access to those services, and the third is the lack of available services. These are all things that the government has the power to do something about. Is there anything in the bill that actually resources the students so that they can actually access the services that they need to combat anxiety and depression?

Again, Bill 166 is a major win for students and post-secondary transparency across the province. It deals with matters of basic transparency around costs associated with ancillary fees, costs of textbooks and other materials. I can only imagine—it’s a non-partisan issue—Bill 166 will receive unanimous support.

Through you, Madam Speaker, I just want to ask the member, do you support Bill 166, and do you support transparency in the post-secondary sector?

Thank you for that question from the member from University–Rosedale. One of the most impactful things I remember in this House was when the Conservative government cut mental health funding by $330 million, I believe it was. That spoke volumes about this government’s “commitment” to mental health.

The reality is mental health for many Ontarians is something that they need to pull out their credit card for. It’s not something that they can access freely. It’s not covered under OHIP, necessarily, for everyone. It would be great to see a province that recognizes that mental health is health and that we need to have our mental health services covered by OHIP so that every student, even when they graduate, can get access to the supports they need, because that’s how they become contributing citizens. That’s how they can become homeowners. That’s how they can become employed and leaders and possibly one day take their—

Again, it comes back to the point: The bill has some very positive first steps. As I said, years ago you all gave the Anti-Racism Directorate a $1,000 budget. I’m sure some of your suits cost more than $1,000. So the fact that you’re at least addressing the issues of equity and mental health is a good thing. I’m just saying, put some money behind it. Properly invest in the post-secondary sector so they can actually do this work that you are saying you want to get done.

And listen to us—