SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

Laura Smith

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Thornhill
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Centre Street Square Unit 4 1136 Centre St. Thornhill, ON L4J 3M8
  • tel: 905-731-1178
  • fax: tre Street Sq
  • Laura.Smith@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page

Our colleagues know very well that enabling water systems is key to housing and a critical part of the construction process. This budget allows for a system fund of $200 million to $825 million over three years, which is quite substantive.

I’m just wondering if the member will stand with our government to support these endeavours so we can get building going.

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Thank you to the member for his question. There are three pillars involved in this act. Financial issues are strongly at the heart of a lot of what we’re doing, including freezing the tuition fees. But not only that, our province is supporting the financial sustainability of the post-secondary sector by creating a Postsecondary Education Sustainability Fund, which will provide for all institutions in the amount of $1.3 billion. This fund will support financial sustainability by providing $700 million in broad base supports to all institutions as well as targeted supports of $203 million for institutions with greater financial need.

This legislation, if passed, will create a standard process for prevention, reporting and addressing matters of hate and discrimination on campus. Getting this in place, we know that it will make a difference. We’ve actually heard from schools, and they have said they do not have the ability to properly intervene with these sorts of situations. Frankly, that’s unacceptable. This pillar will provide them with the methodology—

In the coming weeks, Ontario will determine how to allocate the application cap among institutions that are eligible to enroll with international students, with a focus on in-demand labour markets, and implement a provincial attestation letter.

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  • Apr/19/23 2:30:00 p.m.
  • Re: Bill 98 

I want to thank the member opposite for her question. As a mother, we want to get value for our educational dollar. The Better Schools and Student Outcomes Act advances vision for the education system that is centred upon preparing students.

When we talk about funding, this past Monday we announced a historic investment by providing $27.6 billion for public education for 2023-24. As I said in my presentation, this has grown every year. Our government has continued to make these historic investments every year in the face of stagnant enrolment. We’re continuing to put in, but we need to see the results.

My question would be, does the member of the opposition want to see value for dollars spent?

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  • Aug/23/22 11:20:00 a.m.

Thank you, Minister, for that excellent response.

Speaker, I’ve heard that some child care operators advocated for greater streamlining of the funding rules laid out in the document they received from the ministry in April of this year. Different interpretations in different regions impacted operators, some of whom are waiting to decide to opt in to this program. This could result in families in my riding having to pay additional costs for child care when they wouldn’t have to. We know that operators ultimately must enroll in order for parents to save. Many parents in my riding are overwhelmed by the extra work hours they need to put in to now earn more money to help provide for their families.

After costs rose by over 400% under the Liberals, all levels of government must do better. Can the minister outline how the government plans to streamline the application process so that we can encourage more participation?

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