It’s always a pleasure to be able to rise and ask questions of my colleagues across the way. I listened to your presentation—both presentations, actually—this afternoon.

I guess my question is, in a time when rich, well-connected people in Ontario are benefiting from this government and the working family continues to struggle, how can the government defend a budget that fails to address the soaring costs of living and their duty to build affordable housing, which even our federal counterparts are pointing out Ontario is desperately failing at, and which is affecting real people in all of our communities, especially across Niagara?

I’d like to thank my colleagues for their presentations today on the budget bill.

My question is for the member from Thunder Bay–Superior North. I was very interested in your comments about front-line health care workers who have been recommending a health care human resources strategy that focuses on recruitment as well as retainment. Most importantly, one of the things that has been recommended is the need for wage parity across health care sectors. Specifically, actually, the finance committee’s own report on the pre-budget consultations mentions the need for wage parity. I’d like to ask the member: How important is this, and would you like to see this reflected in the government’s budget?

My question for the member for Parkdale–High Park: This government seems to have ignored the crisis that is going on, and I’d like to know: Would you like to see further investments in education and education being brought back to the cuts that they’ve made since 2018 to address what’s going on in schools?