I want to thank the member for Windsor–Tecumseh for those remarks. I particularly enjoyed your comments when you were talking about the staff, and the burden on the staff when they are aware of an unsafe situation for a youth and how that must weigh on them. I completely agree. That has been my experience meeting with workers for the children’s aid society in Ottawa.

I wonder if the member could elaborate on what this House could do, empowering this legislation even more to be mindful of making sure we hold on to those talented children’s-aid-worker staff? The member for Kitchener Centre said it earlier in debate this afternoon, and she comes from this particular sector, so she should know that, at the moment, in some cases, for-profit group homes and for-profit foster homes are pulling some of the children’s aid workers, paid non-profit, publicly, out of that system, because it’s difficult to compete. It’s difficult to retain talented people.

Do you think it would make sense—my question to the member—for us to make sure that there was proper funding for children’s aid societies so they can maintain the staff, the competence they have and reward those hard-working people?

I’ve enjoyed getting to know the member but I’ve got to just say a few things. First of all, this government presided over the most lost class days of anywhere in North America because of its abject failure to take the pandemic seriously at the time when they did. That’s the first thing.

Secondly, the other critical point they need to understand is that nobody on this side of the House ever once said a student with special needs did not have a right to get into their classroom and learn. We never, ever spent a day without thanking the staff for going in to help them. But on this side of the House we don’t just believe in words. We believe in raising the revenue required to put into the system so those children and that staff can do their jobs well. These guys are just about words. They’re just about platitudes. They’re just about wonderful aspirational things while shorting the system, underfunding kids and underfunding our staff.

The mom of the seven-year-old I spoke about earlier has started a practice of going to her school three times a day so her kid can get fresh air and walk around. This is absolute insanity. We are a first-world country. We are one of the world’s leading jurisdictions in public educational achievement and we are putting students with disabilities under the school bus right now. That’s what we’re doing. We have to stop that. We have to make sure there’s adequate funding for special education, and this government has to move beyond rhetoric and move into a funding position to deliver on the promises they’re making.

This is the thing: I don’t think you’d find a person in this building who would be opposed to more accountability, but when you begin a project of law without actually consulting the key partners in the education sector, how good is your experiment likely to be? Consult all the single stakeholders, please. There are good practices out there. Follow them.

My question is for the Premier.

In a recent video posted online, Chloe Dion, a two-year-old girl, is labouring to breathe at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. The surgical tape that’s holding the breathing tube on Chloe’s face is cut in the shape of tiny hearts.

Speaker, experts are urging that all of us wear masks indoors to protect kids like Chloe and to ensure that kids can stay safe through this triple pandemic of countervail-ing factors. That’s why Chloe’s parents had the courage to put this video online so that we could all see it.

Premier, why not lead by example and put on a mask for Chloe and other kids like her today?

In the video I’m talking about, Chloe’s parents, Jeff and Christine, are singing Chloe Somewhere over the Rainbow as her eyes are filled with tears, and quite clearly she’s terrified about the situation she’s in.

There are 250 kids right now at CHEO, some of whom are going through that exact same nightmare. Some parents are living that exact same nightmare. On Monday, there were three kids who needed to be resuscitated for significant breathing blockages; on Sunday, there were four.

Premier, I see you here this morning, and I’m glad you’re here this morning. I want you to send a message to Jeff and Christine, Chloe’s parents, and every other kid struggling to breathe right now in the province of Ontario. Please, put a mask on. Show some leadership, as this province’s leader, so our kids can be safe. Will you do that today?