The Toronto District School Board is calling for a new provincial funding structure to help address their near $27-million deficit, and I’m calling on this Conservative government to support their demands, for the sake of our children, youth, families and the caring adults who teach and support them. Our schools are at the heart of our community, and we need them properly funded in order for them to function.

The Minister of Education says he expects school boards to put student achievement first. Well, guess what? In order to do that, we need funding that keeps up with inflation, instead of the chronic cuts we’ve seen throughout this government’s tenure. We need this government to fix our schools, not tinker with them. Fixing our schools requires billions of dollars, which this government has and can invest in education.

Schools are losing invaluable staff because they can’t keep up with salaries and benefits. TDSB programs supporting the most vulnerable are being cut. We only need to look at special education to see where your government’s cuts are impacting the most vulnerable students.

This government continues to toss money at the rich while having austerity measures for those who need the most help.

Stop blaming and shaming our TDSB and other school boards across Ontario and start helping them put student achievement first.

Our government is currently investing $85 billion into our publicly funded health care system, which is a 30% increase since 2018, when we took government.

While the Liberals, propped up by the NDP, cut the residency school spots and limited the number of physicians practising in interdisciplinary teams, our government has added 12,500 new physicians since 2018, 10% of those being family physicians.

We have a plan to rebuild the health care in Ontario, and we will not stop until everyone gets more convenient access to care when and where they need it. Our government is taking bold action through our Your Health plan. And we are taking innovative steps to grow our workforce to better serve the people of Ontario for years to come.