I would like to introduce a special education teacher from Peel, Ricky Viveiros. Welcome to your House, Ricky.

Under this government, a quarter of elementary schools and a third of high schools are facing daily teacher shortages. Nearly half have daily EA shortages. Instead of fixing the problem, the government invested millions of dollars to try and convince parents that everything is okay in our schools, with ads that the Auditor General said are too partisan and not supported by any evidence. Why does the Minister of Education think it’s okay to spend on partisan ads but not invest in our kids?

Will the Minister of Education support the NDP motion today to ban partisan advertising, like his party promised in 2018?

I want to talk about what’s happening in my riding of Ottawa West–Nepean right now. At the Queensway Carleton Hospital, which is one of the busiest emergency departments in the province, we have people who are sitting and waiting 14 to 16 hours just to see an emergency room physician. Unfortunately, the government has cut funding for the ER at the Queensway Carleton, so starting next week, there’s going to be 10 fewer hours of ER physician funding every single day, which means these people are going to be waiting even longer.

We are seeing day surgeries being cancelled so that they can expand the number of people who are sitting in the ER waiting for care.

While this is happening, rather than investing in the services, in the health care that people desperately need, this government is investing in partisan ads to tell people “Everything’s fine. We’ve got a great health care system. I don’t know what you’re seeing around you, but everything is just perfect here.” These are ads that the government has spent millions on and that the Auditor General has said were partisan and intended to foster a positive impression of the government. That’s what they’re doing instead of fixing the health care system.

And then these people’s kids in school don’t have EAs. They don’t have teachers. They don’t have social workers and counsellors, and that’s if they can get to school at all, if the school bus is actually running. This government has been running taxpayer-funded partisan ads saying everything is great in schools, and the Auditor General has said these are partisan and that there is no evidence to back up these ads.

This is deeply insulting to people in Ontario, who are struggling with many challenges right now, who want to see their government actually take these challenges seriously and fix the concerns that they are facing. That is why I’m asking the government today to support the NDP’s bill to end the public funding of partisan government advertising. Stop wasting taxpayer dollars on patting yourselves on the back and actually do something to help the people of Ontario.