Good morning. Through Bill 166, our government is continuing to work to ensure students have access to the right conditions to support their well-being and achieve success at colleges and universities by introducing legislation that, if passed, would enhance student mental health supports, increase ancillary fee transparency and continue to ensure our college and university campuses are safe and inclusive learning environments.

Speaker, every student has a right to study at a college or university. Removing barriers of mental health, racism, hate and cost will assist students with obtaining a better campus experience. Will the member opposite support this bill to develop policies which will protect students?

What we have here is a mess that started long ago with the Liberal government, with the lowest provincial funding—the member talked about it being 44% of the average of other provinces’ funding. Very low funding led to precarious work—a rise in sessional precarious professors teaching our young ones. That led to the exploitation of international students. The massive growth, a 343% increase—a 420% increase in private international students, attracting people to fill the coffers and pay the bills that the Conservative and Liberal governments are refusing to pay. The federal announcement is going to result in about a $2-billion cut. The Conservative government’s solution to this is to provide an approximately $23-million top-up.

To the member: What is wrong with these governments? They don’t understand that we need to provide proper funding to our post-secondary institutions so that students can be successful. It’s not about freezing fees or slightly reducing tuition. It’s about paying the system properly so that post-secondary institutions, like Laurentian University, aren’t in fear of going into bankruptcy and so our students can be successful without a lifetime of debt.

This is a petition entitled “Keep Classrooms Safe for Students and Staff.” I would like to thank Zoë Dubek of Thunder Bay for signing this petition.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas students and education workers deserve stronger, safer schools to learn and work in;

“Whereas the pressure placed on our education system has contributed to an increase in reports of violence in our schools;

“Whereas crowded classrooms, a lack of support for staff, and underfunding of mental health supports are all contributing to this crisis;

“Whereas the government of Ontario has the responsibility and tools to address this crisis, but has refused to act;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“Take immediate action to address violence in our schools;

“Invest in more mental health resources;

“End violence against education workers and improve workplace violence reporting;

“Properly fund our schools and ensure smaller class sizes with more support staff.”

I fully support this petition, will put my signature on it and give it to Ellen.

Resuming the debate adjourned on March 7, 2024, on the motion for second reading of the following bill:

Bill 166, An Act to amend the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act / Projet de loi 166, Loi modifiant la Loi sur le ministère de la Formation et des Collèges et Universités.

I’m pleased to build on Minister Dunlop’s remarks about the proposed legislative changes under the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024; changes that will help our colleges and universities become beacons of mental health and wellness, and create the best conditions for students to learn and thrive. That’s why I’m proud to show my support for the new Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act.

As Minister Dunlop explained, the first initiative in this legislation is a clear sign of our government’s commitment to post-secondary students. If passed, this legislation will require all publicly assisted colleges and universities to create and follow through on policies for student mental health. These policies will clearly outline all the mental health and wellness programs, supports and services available to students at their post-secondary institution.

To stay accountable to our students, we would require colleges and universities to publish these policies on their websites and report to their boards every year, making sure that all mental health programs, supports and services are implemented effectively, and truly improve the mental health and well-being of students. To stay current with the best mental health guidance and available supports, these policies would be reviewed at least once every five years.

To turn these mental health policies into reality, our government is investing $23 million to help institutions enhance their mental health supports, including $12.5 million in 2024-25 for Get A-Head, an online platform that enhances post-secondary students’ access to virtual mental health service, all while expediting the graduation of post-secondary students in mental health fields, as well as an $8-million investment over three years, starting in 2024-25, for the post-secondary mental health action plan.

For many years, I’ve been a committed mentor and coach to high school, college and university students, and have had the privilege of working first-hand with diverse learners. I can tell you that with each year students face more complex mental health challenges. In fact, mental health supports can be the single difference between a student who succeeds, getting the most out of their educational experience, and one who, unfortunately, does not. That’s why we need to give our students the best chance we can. We can do that by working in partnership with post-secondary institutions to make sure every campus has mental health supports for their students and that every single student can easily access these supports when they need them.

Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to visit many colleges, universities and Indigenous institutes, and what struck me was just how widespread and complex student mental health issues are. As I met with students, faculty and administrators, common threads emerged. I came to understand that students don’t know what mental health services and supports are available at their institution, and they don’t know how to access them. Students also told me that it’s complicated to navigate the maze of mental health services and that they don’t know how to access the supports that are available to them.

Our post-secondary sector has made student mental health a priority and is committed to providing mental health services and supports to students, many of whom are living on their own for the very first time. We know mental health is essential to student success and we also know that young people aged 15 to 24 are more likely to experience mental illness and/or substance use disorders than any other age group. That’s why it’s time to eliminate barriers to mental health supports on campus, because when we invest in mental health, we invest in the future—a future where every student can thrive and learn and contribute.

I’m proud to say that the legislative actions we are introducing through the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024, build on the significant steps we have taken to support the mental health of post-secondary students. In fact, in 2023-24 we are investing more than $32 million in mental health supports. This includes funding provided directly to post-secondary institutions through multiple grants. For example, the Mental Health Services Grant helps colleges and universities develop and expand mental health services on campus, such as specialized supports for at-risk groups, peer-to-peer supports, as well as mindfulness and resiliency-building programs.

There is also the Mental Health Worker Grant, which helps post-secondary institutions hire mental health professionals like counsellors, social workers, nurses, care coordinators—all to help the mental health needs of students. In 2022-23, more than 160 positions were filled with the help of this grant, which resulted in shorter wait times for students and less pressure on campus-based services.

Supporting ongoing initiatives that help provide direct one-on-one support for students also continues to be a high priority for our government—initiatives like the Good2Talk mental health helpline for post-secondary students. In 2023-24, our government is investing $5 million in this initiative so the organization can expand its services to continue to provide free, bilingual and confidential services to students. Good2Talk provides confidential services for post-secondary students in Ontario 24/7, 365 days a year, by phone, text and live chat. When students are feeling anxious, misunderstood or overwhelmed, just having someone to talk about it, someone who is truly there to listen, can make all the difference in the world.

To ensure all students in the province have access to mental health services, our government also invested more than $12 million in 2023-24 in another important resource: the Get A-Head portal. Students seeking care can access the portal to match with a counselling student in training and their supervisor, based on an area of support, gender, age and ethnicity. This tool not only provides critical and timely mental health services to post-secondary students at low to no cost, but it also gives students in mental health fields of study the opportunity to gain experience delivering supports. I’m pleased to report that in 2022-23, the Get A-Head platform served over 27,000 post-secondary students. And according to a survey carried out by those overseeing the online tool, more than 80% of the students who responded reported improvements in their mental health and well-being, and about 70% of the graduate student trainees surveyed believe the platform enabled them to deliver effective care. What a winning combination. That’s why I’m pleased that our most recent investment in this platform will expand access across all publicly assisted colleges, universities and Indigenous institutes in Ontario.

In 2023-24, our government also provided $750,000 for another important initiative, the Centre for Innovation in Campus Mental Health. This is a partnership between Colleges Ontario, the Council of Ontario Universities, the College Student Alliance, and the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance. With this additional funding, the centre will continue to promote the exchange of knowledge in the student mental health sector, foster collaboration and research, and facilitate access to expertise to meet the mental health needs of all students.

The Ministry of Colleges and Universities is also a partner in this government’s multi-year mental health and addictions strategy that is led by the Ministry of Health. The strategy, Roadmap to Wellness: A Plan to Build Ontario’s Mental Health and Addictions System, seeks to address key challenges in the system, including long wait times, barriers to access and uneven quality of service. Our government has committed $3.8 billion over 10 years in this strategy. We have fulfilled this commitment by flowing $525 million in new annualized funding into the system since 2019-20. These investments are helping to deliver high-quality care and filling important gaps in the care continuum.

Through these efforts, we want post-secondary students to know they are not alone and that help and resources are always available. The legislative amendments proposed today would further build on our government’s efforts to support the well-being of students, requiring all public colleges and universities to have blueprints for their mental health supports and services that will help students in Ontario have access to the right resources when they need them the most.

In closing, I’ll say this: I feel optimistic about the historic changes being proposed as part of the Strengthening Accountability and Student Supports Act, 2024. I strongly believe that the new legislative amendments and investments for mental health that Minister Dunlop and I outlined, combined with other important amendments introduced to address incidents of anti-hate and increased transparency of student fees, will go a long way to improving the overall experience of Ontario’s post-secondary students. As such, I appreciate your support as we move forward.

As the member opposite will know, Bill 166 addresses student well-being, and it’s talking about enhancing mental health services and supports, fee transparency and ensuring that campuses are safe and inclusive learning environments. Ontario is putting students first with a continued focus on efficiency, accountability and sustainability in our world-class education system.

The number of hate crimes in the province has skyrocketed in recent months. Anyone who reads the newspaper has seen articles describing the hate and alienation many students experience because of their religion, ethnicity and nationality. What is the government doing to ensure that students can learn in an environment that is safe, respectful and inclusive?

I thank the member for his question. As I stated in my remarks, there are certainly steps that have been taken in this bill that are addressing concerns that have been raised by stakeholders, especially students; however, so much more needs to be done. At the end of the day, we can have amazing, strong policies in place that are posted on the website and that everybody is aware of, but it doesn’t mean that in reality anything is changing, because the funding is lacking.

If we don’t increase the funding, what is essentially going to happen is that more supports and services, even the existing ones, are under threat and at risk for cutting.

The Deputy Speaker (Ms. Donna Skelly) Further questions?

Thanks so much to the member from Parkdale–High Park. I love the fact that she focused on the experience of international students.

I’ve spent a lot of time with Conestoga students in my riding. One student from India told me that she came to Ontario to learn, to gain experience, to build Canadian relationships. She didn’t come here to learn online.

Can you imagine, Madam Speaker, coming here just to learn online? I hope we can all agree that this is wrong.

Alex Usher, who has been a very vocal voice, obviously, on post-secondary institutions, says that—that of declining domestically sourced funding, because of Liberals and now this Conservative government, you’ve now offered only $700 million over three years in new public money, and about a third of what its own panel recommended.

To the member: How do you think post-secondary institutions are going to cope with this chronic and institutional underfunding going forward?

I want to thank the member from Parkdale–High Park for her contribution to this discussion. Students, before coming to Canada to do their studies, I’m sure did a lot of research before deciding to come here. And they have seen a lot of great things that are here that can well fit into molding their careers into better global citizens. Bill 166 is a major win for students and post-secondary transparency across the province.

I’m worried that members of the opposition may choose to vote against this bill. I want to remind the House that this additional transparency for students—

Students have a responsibility for their education, and that means they need and deserve to know exactly where their hard-earned dollars are being spent. One of the three aspects of Bill 166 deals with matters of basic transparency around costs associated with ancillary fees, the cost of textbooks and other materials.

Speaker, can the member inform us on how they plan to vote on Bill 166 and if they support transparency in student fees in our post-secondary sector?

I thank the member for his question. I’ll say two things: One, I think your time would be better spent worrying if you’re actually doing something to help students. Again, as I shared reaction and thoughts from stakeholders, I have not heard a single stakeholder call this bill, as the member called it, a massive win—no. In fact, we’re hearing the opposite, that the government has finally decided after, again, decades of inaction—not just under you, the Liberals and you, but it has gotten worse under the Conservatives for sure. This is a small step. Even the funding is a drop in the bucket. There’s a lot more that needs to be done.

In this day and age, you need a master’s. It’s the minimum you need—a bachelor’s for sure. Certainly, I don’t want to—I’m not talking about the trades. There is obviously that pathway as well. But I’m saying, in terms of—

But when it comes to—

I thank the member for his remarks on this. I was listening to your comments about the challenges that students are facing and certainly understand those challenges. I’ve got three boys. They’re post-school now, but when they were going through it it was a big burden. Frankly, it’s even more challenging these days, arguably, with the housing that you mentioned.

Looking at this bill and seeing that it’s freezing tuition fees for several more years after the benefits that have been there already, including a 10% reduction—I look at those benefits and say that those are very important benefits for students. My question is, really, don’t those benefits allow you to look at this bill and say, “Yes, I’d like to support it and support students as well”?

Thank you to the independent member for his comments. Under the Liberals, students would be paying more for less. The Liberals opposed performance-based funding, opposed a freeze on tuition and supported increasing tuition. So my question is: Will the Liberals again oppose strengthening accountability and student supports?

Thank you to the member from Don Valley East, and particularly for the reminders about the cuts to actual funding supports for domestic students.

After my PhD, I taught for 11 years in a university, and I’ve certainly seen the increase of international students and the stresses that they’re under, and the exploitation that they’re experiencing. We have an institution that’s based on the exploitation of international students and the exploitation of the existing talent of the graduates of those very same institutions who are precarious workers. That includes library and support staff.

Now, I doubt that the government intends to be transparent about this aspect of how universities are being supported, but I know that when students learn about the exploitation that underpins their education, they’re really shocked. They’re really upset. They’re asking themselves, “Do I want to be part of this? Is this what it means to get an education?”

So my question is, what do you think the message is to students and Ontarians when our post-secondary institutions are based on exploitation?

I thank you for the question because I think it’s particularly prescient. When you talk to international students, they know that they are the piggy bank that is funding colleges and universities. It’s heartbreaking to hear from them that they were sold on a dream and a promise from faraway lands that they would be able to come here, settle and start a new life with hope for prosperity in the future. When they come here and realize that their tuition is orders of magnitude higher than domestic students and that the promise that was made to them can’t be delivered upon, it tells them that their individual dignity does not count; it tells them that they count for nothing more than what’s in their bank accounts.

The only thing that they should be focusing on is their education and how they can settle their roots here and give back to our country and our economy.

As the finance critic, I’m very concerned about the operational funding for post-secondary institutions. We do know that these institutions have become very dependent on international students. With the reduction in international students and the failure to meet the moment, we now know that the PSE sector will be seeing a 15% cutback, which is only comparable to 1996 Mike Harris.

How is this government going to support post-secondary institutions in their core business of education?

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—

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?

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?