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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
  • May/17/23 9:40:00 a.m.
  • Re: Bill 85 

Thank you for the question on the other side. Yes, I have worked—both, actually, in my previous life. I dealt with matters under the child protection act, and I actually sat on parent council. That’s part of the reason of why I’m here. But I’m really proud to talk about the 46,000 spaces that will be available in child care as a result of this government. We’re working with our federal partners and we got that deal done so that we can make sure that these kids have proper places to go before and after school. I know this as a parent and this is such an important initiative.

One of the things that I did also want to bring up—and this is something that I really think is important—is that we’re increasing help for foster care kids. Previously, that ended at 21. These are the most vulnerable—and now it’s going up to the age of 23. Given what I did in my previous life, I’m really happy to see this bridge to give our kids the best opportunity.

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  • Apr/19/23 2:40:00 p.m.
  • Re: Bill 98 

I honestly really appreciate the member opposite for his question and his statement. This is a reality in my community, and my vision is no different from any other parent in my community. Of course, anti-Semitism is a very real reality that we need to talk about, and it’s not just specific to Thornhill; it’s Canada-wide, North America-wide, worldwide.

My vision is to have students who are prepared for the next generation of jobs, so STEM is an absolute necessity for the next generation. Science, learning math: We’ve had very poor numbers in math, and I say that as a person who sat in school council and watched the numbers, in a library filled with other parents who would watch things go through. Our vision is accountability for the future students of Ontario.

Parents and families expect accountability and transparency and responsiveness from their school boards, and they deserve access to publicly available and easy-to-understand—I’m going to underline “easy-to-understand”—information about how their school board is performing and how they are spending public funds to support student outcomes.

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  • Nov/1/22 8:20:00 a.m.
  • Re: Bill 28 

As a parent, I too have faced the same issues as other parents in this House. I have watched as my children have faced isolation and the challenges that have confronted them over the past two and a half years. It has not been pretty. I think we can all understand and respect that. What I’m saying right now as a mother of a son who is going to be, hopefully, in school on Friday is—

Interjections.

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  • Sep/1/22 10:30:00 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to welcome Sharline Wang and Lei Zhang, the parents of our brilliant young page Sophie Zhang of Thornhill.

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