Thank you to the member for that question—it is my first day on the job, and I appreciate that important work—and for acknowledging my family’s history.

You know, I don’t even like the terms “right-wing” or “left-wing” politicians. This Premier has said he doesn’t see Ontarians through that light; he sees Ontarians as people who need to be valued, and that’s exactly what this legislation is doing for workers. It’s supporting breaking down barriers for access to the skilled trades. This legislation is supporting newcomers who seek better opportunity, better access to a job in their field. It’s supporting our heroes: firefighters, reservists and so many more.

I would always welcome a sit-down with that member, and I’m really proud of the work that this ministry has done on this piece of legislation to smash barriers.

I just want to say thank you for your father’s service. Obviously, his father did a fine job, because MPP Yakabuski is a fine role model for all of us in this place.

Interjection.

Interjection.

I think what we’ve said in this legislation here, that we’re protecting workers by protecting their lot when it comes to their experience on the job site—as I went to in my remarks—ensuring that those who seek to abuse the most vulnerable workers are brought to justice and that they have no place in this province of Ontario. It’s improving pathways.

When my grandfather came over, he was able to provide for his family and gradually progress to the point where then they started a shoe store etc. I think what we’re trying to do here is recognize that there are many who seek a brighter future in the province of Ontario. If we ensure that they’re protected when they first land, with respect to the passport piece that I talked about, if their health and well-being are protected, as I alluded to in my speech, and if we remove barriers to credentialing, as we’re doing as well in this piece of legislation, we improve their experience and enable them to get a leg up.

I’m happy to rise to address third reading of Bill 79, the Working for Workers Act, 2023. Before I begin, I would like to let you know, Speaker, that I will divide my time with parliamentary assistants the member for Mississauga–Malton and the member for Scarborough Centre.

I would like to start by saying that this is the first day on the job as minister in this portfolio. I would like to first just start by thanking the incredible team at MECP, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Both on the department side and on the ministry side, they’ve done a phenomenal job. It’s been an honour working with each and every one of them. I’ll miss them greatly. But Speaker, I’m very excited to start in this new role, and I’d like to especially thank everybody at the department and on staff who have been working very hard on Bill 79.

I’d also like to say a special thank you to my predecessor, former minister Monte McNaughton. I think it goes without saying he’s been a remarkable champion for workers in the province of Ontario—someone who understands that to build the highways, roads and bridges we need, to build the homes that we need, the skyscrapers downtown that are going to house thousands of new people looking for the dream of home or apartment ownership, it’s going to require workers and a robust labour force. It’s going to require working with the federal government to increase immigration targets, all of which he has done. I would like to say a special thank you. I wish you all the best, Monte, in your exciting next chapter. And also a profound thank you to Premier Ford for entrusting this important file to me.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government is taking unprecedented action to move and improve the lives of workers and make Ontario the best place to live, work and raise a family. I’m glad to have this opportunity to tell you about this exciting bill, helping workers find better jobs and bigger paycheques and addressing the historic labour shortages many businesses in our province face. You don’t need to look very far. In my own community, go into Jebco, go to Mirmil, go to any of the employers—Horizon Plastics, Sabic, Protoplast—they’re all looking for workers. This is something we see across Ontario; this isn’t unique to me. We had the mayor of Windsor down—historic investments thanks to this government, this Premier. We’re going to need workers, Speaker.

And isn’t it a nice thing to see, from under the previous Liberal government, where jobs were fleeing and where businesses were shutting down and people were getting pink slips, to today. The signs that I see—more than even signs that I had up during the election: “Help wanted,” “Help wanted,” “Help wanted” everywhere, because Ontario is booming again and because we’re building things in this great province.

We’re protecting vulnerable workers, Speaker, standing up for those who protect us and bringing new transparency when workers start a new job or have the unfortunate experience of being part of mass terminations. With Bill 79, our third Working for Workers bill, we’re building on the strong success of our previous acts that this House passed in 2021 and 2022.

This is an important piece that hits home for me, as the grandson of a man in the fisheries in Newfoundland and someone who came to this country from Italy to build and to work for a union at Stelco. This hits close to home. I’ll speak a little more about the latter on my dad’s side—proud Hamiltonians who worked in a steel factory at Stelco. My dad worked in a steel factory at Stelco to help pay his way. He went to university—the first on that side of the family—and became an architect. I think to my aunt, I think to so many who have been working through union shops—Christmas parties, the important role that that played in my upbringing and in so many. And it’s not unique to just there; then we have the other side of that side of the family that worked at Dofasco, a non-union shop as well.

What do both have in common? Men and women getting up each day, working hard on the front lines. In this case, it was for steel, but it’s not just ubiquitous to steel; it’s regardless. I think to my own community: men and women who are working in the forestry sector, who are working in injection moulding, who are working on the front lines at Mirmil, for example, to build the custom woodwork that we see at Harvard or at the new Miami Dolphins stadium, done right in my own community. I’m very proud of that, and I’m proud because we’re making things again in this province. I’m proud that we’re a leader in electric vehicles. And behind all of that are stories of men and women who are working hard on the front lines to provide for their families.

I had a great conversation this morning when I visited one of the LIUNA local sites, 183. I spoke to Jack Oliveira. He said, “Dave, I just want to leave behind a better place than I inherited.” I think that was what my grandfathers said. That’s what my parents have said to me. Jack’s wise words are what so many of us aspire to do—leave behind a better place. I think everybody in this place has the same goals: leave behind a better place than what we inherited. And that’s what we’re trying to do, at this ministry, for workers of this great province.

We followed this act and measures that we’ve taken in the past, with Working for Workers acts that predate the one that I’m speaking to today—amendments to make Ontario the first province in Canada to have requirements regarding a minimum wage and other foundational rights for digital platform workers who provide ride-sharing, delivery or courier services. This was monumental in the service sector. And no, I’m not referring to solely the service industry that the former Premier wanted to drive Ontario to become—they were, of course, famous for saying that as they drove manufacturing jobs out of this province. But we recognize that there is a digital-disruption reality that we’re seeing today, and it’s this government, this Premier and this ministry that said we’re going to protect those workers—rights like minimum wage, the right to regular pay periods, the right to keep tips, and the right to resolve worker-related disputes right here in Ontario. These changes will go a long way to levelling the playing field and helping workers who rely—to get around or bring food to our doors.

Building on our mission to help people from other countries start their careers and build new lives, as my family did here, we took steps to make it easier for people from other provinces to do the same. Now skilled workers from other Canadian provinces and territories who apply to work in a regulated profession or trade must receive a registration decision within 30 business days from those bodies. This is an important part of how we’re taking a customer service approach for workers who want to come to our province and help build Ontario.

We also took action to reduce overdose deaths by requiring employers to provide life-saving naloxone kits in workplaces where there’s a risk of overdose. This was a first in North America. The ministry launched a temporary program to provide free training for up to two workers and one free nasal spray naloxone kit per workplace. Our ministry and I, as minister, make this clear: We want these life-saving tools in every Ontario workplace.

We enhanced worker health and safety by increasing maximum fines to the highest level in Canada for directors and officers of companies who fail to provide a safe working environment for their employees.

And as more people work from their kitchen, living room or bedroom, Ontario became the first province to protect workers’ privacy by requiring employers to dis-close electronic monitoring of their employees happening on their laptops, phones or other company equipment. Workers deserve to know if, how and why their employers are monitoring them through their devices—which brings me to Working for Workers Act, 2023.

Speaker, our proposed Working for Workers Act, 2023, is offering first-in-Canada action. We’re presenting a way forward to attract, keep and prepare people to thrive in the future of work and power economic growth for all Ontario. We are working—government, business and labour—to make that happen. We have listened to the working people of this province and set a course for real progress. It’s an effort that will require all hands on deck as we aim to tackle the historic labour shortages that threatened to hold back our economy—and we cannot let it hold back our economy. We have too much happening right now—the $30 billion just in the automotive sector alone. We can’t hold back the progress that we’ve made. We have to get shovels in the ground. We have to ensure that these industries that are thriving in Ontario have the workforce, the backbone, to ensure that it gets done.

Our government has an ambitious plan to build the homes, schools, hospitals, transit and other infrastructure families and businesses need. But every day, Madam Speaker, we know there are 300,000 jobs going unfilled in the province of Ontario. That one job that gave a shot to my grandpa; that one job that ensured he was able to provide for my father to go to university; for me, that one job, for example, that my mom got in the education sector—these are jobs that we have to ensure are filled. That’s 300,000 paycheques not being collected. That’s 300,000 lost opportunities—the likes of which was the story of my family and so many in this place, regardless of political stripe. Those are lost opportunities that this Premier, this government will not sit on the sidelines and allow to happen.

That’s why we’re working so hard to ensure we’re the most competitive place in which to start a business, to grow the manufacturing sector, to start a meaningful career in the skilled trades.

You saw that we had a delegation from Arizona here. It’s this Premier who understands that we’re not competing against Prince Edward Island—with the greatest of respect to our friends in PEI—but we’re competing on a world stage. We’re competing against states south of the border, we’re competing against Mexico, we’re competing against Europe to attract talent, to build things, to ensure that we’re a leader in electric vehicles, that we’re not just giving rebates to the most affluent to buy EVs mined using critical minerals from a forgotten land, mined using practices that are questionable at best, but that we’re willing to have the struggle, the discussion to ensure equity in the north for First Nation partners, to ensure that we’re mining those minerals in a responsible manner right here, that we’re using clean steel, for example, at Dofasco. I spoke to Ron over the weekend about the incredible work and—if you check today in the news, they talk about the first contract that GM, using clean steel to support our EV—the incredible might that is Ontario today. All of these exciting things require a workforce.

Speaker, Ontario’s ability to select economic immigrants has been proportionally smaller than any other province. The Premier says, and we all know, that we have hundreds of thousands of people who choose Ontario, and I’m sick and tired—for the first time ever in my life, I’ve seen stories of immigrants who are going back home to the country they came from because the opportunity, the ability to own a home here is too out of sight. That is absolutely shameful. We have jobs that need to go to filled, and we call on the federal government to recognize that Ontario is not at par with all other provinces. We recognize that the majority of new Canadians choose this great province, and we deserve the respect and the treatment, as a result, from the federal government.

When Ontario can nominate skilled immigrants for permanent residents who best meet the needs of our communities, everybody wins. If you talk to Mayor Chow, she’ll tell you that. If you talk to Mayor Cleveland and Mayor Logel, who is in my community—they’ll all tell you the same thing.

That’s why, when the Premier worked for months with our federal counterparts to land a better deal for Ontario when it comes to immigration—and I’m proud to say we got that done. It’s this Premier, this government that got that done; this government that recognizes Ontario is a leader in this federation and we deserve that sort of deal.

The feds answered our calls to double our annual allocation for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program to 18,000 by 2025—and a big shout-out to the team at labour, immigration, training and skills development for working so hard to land that deal, because it has taken months. Speaker, 10 days later that same team announced an additional $25-million investment to the program, and I’m so excited to hear that. This funding is necessary to speed up processing and ensure those coming to Ontario can start working in their professions quicker than ever before. This will help ensure we have the talented newcomers and innovative entrepreneurs Ontario needs to grow and prosper. The Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program allows our province to nominate individuals for permanent residency who have the skills and experience to contribute to Ontario’s economy and industry, like in the skilled trades and health care.

I was down at a LIUNA site this morning—one of their high-rises—and I spoke, and I heard the stories of men and women who have been with their work permits, having to reapply over and over and over again, who can’t get permanent residency because of these sorts of barriers.

Well, this Premier says that just sitting back and pointing a finger to the federal government isn’t enough. We’ve got to roll up our sleeves and fix the bloody problem, and we’re going to do that. And I thank Jason for that conversation, and I thank the team at 183. This is so, so important to our economic competitiveness. But it doesn’t just stop there. It starts with building more friendly training sites, more friendly job sites. And that’s what we’ve done as a government.

Another group of workers we’re stepping up for is construction workers and women in the skilled trades. There are more than 600,000 of these everyday heroes who build our province, but in the next decade we’ll need at least 100,000 new workers in construction due to retirements and job growth. As I’ve said, we need to get those boots on the ground as quickly as possible to deliver the infrastructure projects Ontario businesses and families need—and that includes that promise to build 1.5 million homes by 2031. Yet the conditions our construction workers face are a world away from white collar workers. They work outdoors, often far away from the many things we take for granted in our workplaces. This sounds glib, but what was one of the first things I saw when I got to the new ministry this morning? “Where’s the washroom?” I know people can roll their eyes and laugh, but in all seriousness, that was one of the first things I looked for. On job sites today, those are far too far away. I see members looking at each other, in the opposition. But literally for that woman in the skilled trades, sometimes it’s 180 yards away, and that’s not good enough. We recognize that, and I would call on them to join us in recognizing that that’s not good enough for a woman in construction today. It sounds bizarre, but that is an injustice, and we’ve got to fix it.

That’s why our government recently launched the first inspection blitz targeting these dirty washrooms, ensuring that there are washrooms there for women, ensuring that they’re lit, ensuring that they’re clean. That’s so important, to ensure that people have access to the simple necessities far too many of us take for granted, to ensure that we get the homes built, the buildings built that we need. Since then, our health and safety inspectors have visited over 3,200 job sites and found over 490 violations, but we’re working together to ensure that that’s down to zero. Furthermore, we doubled the number of washrooms, as I said, on job sites and required larger sites to have at least one women-only washroom.

All too often, we’ve heard from women that these are one of the reasons they don’t want to work in the trades. Nobody should have to leave their workplace to find a decent washroom, and it’s just as simple as that. It’s more than the right thing to do; it’s necessary to keep our workers safe.

Careers in the construction sector, we know, offer six-figure salaries with pensions and benefits, and it’s an injustice that as little as 5% of them are filled by women. That’s why we’re working as government to ensure we increase opportunities for racialized Ontarians, opportunities for Indigenous Ontarians, opportunities for women in the skilled trades. It’s an exciting challenge. But as I visit many partners like Hiawatha First Nation in the community that I have the honour of representing, and working in partnership with Hiawatha—when we see the fastest-growing youth population, this presents not only a challenge, but an opportunity for Ontario, and the Premier understands that and our government understands that.

Moving to remote workers and transparency: We know that the world of work has changed. Technology and Internet mean employment is no longer always dominated just by geography. With the click of a button or the opening of a computer, we can connect often to job sites that are hundreds of kilometres away. In the fourth quarter of 2022, 2.2 million workers here in Ontario were working at least partially from home, including 1.4 million full-time Ontarians. While these remote workers didn’t have a desk in the office, their contributions to their employers and our economy are no less valuable. Speaker, our government is working for these workers by bringing forward updates to employment laws that respond to the evolving workplace and changing economy. Under our proposed changes, employees who work remotely would be eligible for the same advance notice as in-office employees in any godforsaken termination. This would ensure that remote employees receive the same eight-week minimum notice of termination or pay in lieu, preventing companies from taking advantage of them and loopholes in the way work has evolved. Thankfully, our economy is booming, and we hope we never see these types of things, but we know from time to time it does happen.

The future of work is here, and our government will continue to lead the country in ensuring workers have the protections they need to find better jobs, earn bigger paycheques in the 21st-century economy.

And we’re not stopping there. Our legislation would also require employers to provide basic employment information before a new worker starts their first shift. Standardization holds both the employers and employees accountable. This would detail things like pay, work location and hours of work, things every worker should know before they start a new job, to prevent bad actors from taking advantage of workers, because when we rebalance the scales for workers, everyone wins.

Speaker, I’ll now move on to the heroes, the men and women in uniform, military reservists. Our government will always stand up for the brave men and women in uniform. When our heroes are overseas or in training, being the heroes that they are, they shouldn’t have to worry. Thousands of people in Ontario are active reservists in the Canadian Armed Forces. I think to Kennedy, who used to work in the environment office with me and so many more like him and many more friends I have in Northumberland–Peterborough South. They put their full-time careers on hold to join important military missions at home and abroad. They step up to provide support during search-and-rescue operations, natural disasters, ice storms, wildfires, conflicts and other major events, and we see more of them with climate change. So it’s so important that we support them.

We know it isn’t easy for military reservists to pack up and leave on a mission, especially if they’re starting a new job. We also know it isn’t always easy for them to immediately return to their job afterward, particularly if they are injured or experience trauma in that mission. That is why we’re proposing a reduction in the length of time workers need to be employed before on-the-job protection kicks in—reservists leave to go serve their countries abroad—down from three months to two months. It’s this government that brought it from six months to three, now three to two. In cases where there’s an emergency at home, we’re proposing there be no length of employment required, which we believe is common sense when responding to emergencies here on Ontario soil, on Canadian soil.

This year, we’ve seen wildfires from coast to coast. We’re grateful for the bravery and hard work of everyone battling to save lives, homes and communities. But it’s more urgent than ever to ensure that when the Canadian Armed Forces need to support these efforts, reservists are able help those efforts immediately, and their jobs are protected; they have a job to go back home to. It’s this government, this Premier that’s saying yes to that.

Speaker, I will now move on to fines for holding passports. This is something that’s foreign to me, and I’m sure to many: Imagine holding an employee’s passport. A key emphasis of our proposed legislation is protecting the most vulnerable workers. As we know, Ontario relies on newcomers to help the labour shortages in our province. Yet despite prohibitions in the Employment Protection for Foreign Nationals Act, some businesses continue to take foreign nationals’ passports and work permits. Not every work environment is as loving and as welcoming as many of the farms—I’m from rural Ontario, so I think of Wilmot Orchards. It’s Joseph who puts on the barbecue. He’s from Barbados and is a member of the family. He’s a Rotarian and he’s proudly a member of our community. I think to Algoma Orchards. I think to so many communities that rely on temporary foreign workers and on foreign nationals who come and are members of our community, who are working, quite literally, to put food on our table.

But we’re a big province, and we know that there are bad actors out there and we know that we need to protect the most vulnerable, those who get off a plane and are on the front lines of our workforce, which is why our government is strengthening protections for foreign workers to hold those would abuse them accountable, so they can quickly find our officers knocking at their door, God forbid they do this. With this legislation, we are proposing the highest maximum fines in Canada—I repeat, the highest maximum fines in Canada—for employers and recruiters who are convicted of taking or retaining a foreign national’s passport or work permit. If our proposed amendments are passed, people convicted would be liable for a fine of up to $500,000 for each passport taken and up to 12 months in prison. Corporations would be liable for a fine of up to $1 million.

What we’re saying here is that if you have the bravery to come into Ontario to fill one of the many jobs we need, we’ve got your back. You’re going to be protected. We’re going to ensure that the full force of the law falls on anyone who thinks it’s acceptable to withhold passports. We’re getting serious about that, Speaker, and I’m proud that it’s this government that’s standing up for the most vulnerable, this government that’s protecting them, that’s saying, “If you have the courage,” as my grandfather did, “to go across an ocean to go to a foreign country—perhaps it’s a language that isn’t a language of your own—we’ve got your back, you’re going to be protected and we welcome you, because we need you. We need you in this great province of Ontario.” Anyone who preys on vulnerable members in our community has no place in this society, no place in our Ontario.

Last spring the government raised fines for individuals to a maximum of $500,000 and to a maximum, as I said, of $1.5 million for directors and officers of a corporation. The idea that injuries at workplaces are a cost of doing business is over. That’s ensuring that our workplace health and safety legislation in Canada is among the strongest. So not only on the passport side but also on the workplace safety side as well are we increasing those fines. We will hold lawbreakers accountable. Bad actors will not get away with taking a lax approach to workplace safety. It’s part of our commitment to build a stronger Ontario.

Speaker, I will also, before I turn things over to my incredible colleagues working on the front lines here, touch on extending cancer coverage for firefighters. I’ve got firefighters who live around the corner from me in Port Hope, incredible volunteer firefighters, incredible firefighters who get up each and every day to keep our communities safe. I want to thank them for the work that they do. We’re helping them in this legislation. These brave men and women are there for us in our times of greatest need. As many often say, as we run from the flames, they run into them. They put their lives on the line to save others. They run into those burning buildings while we run from them. We know that we are forever thankful as a province for their courage. In return, we’ve got to be there for them. That’s why in this piece of legislation we’re going to have their backs.

What many might not know is that firefighters die of cancer at a rate of up to four times higher than those in our general population. Every year, 25 to 30 firefighters die of cancer in Ontario. We owe it to firefighters and their families to ensure that they have fast access to benefits for work-related illnesses. That is why we have changed the regulation to make it easier for firefighters, fire investigators and their families to get access to Workplace Safety and Insurance Board compensation. These changes expand presumptive occupational cancer coverage for firefighters and fire investigators to include thyroid and pancreatic cancer. Anyone—and I’ve had this in my own family—who has had to deal with these types of cancers know how devastating that is. We’re saying to firefighters, who are quite literally heroes, “We’ve got your back.”

By presuming these cancers are work-related, firefighters and fire investigators can now get streamlined access to benefits and other critical supports they need and deserve while they focus on one thing and one thing only: their health. These measures were retroactive to January 1, 1960, helping to ensure that those who have these cancers or have had them in the past can get help. I just want to pause there, Speaker: Retroactive to 1960—it’s a big move.

This applies to all firefighters, those who are full- or part-time, and volunteers, as well as firefighters employed by First Nations, band councils and fire investigators. I think of the innovative partnership I’ve seen between Hiawatha and Otonabee-South Monaghan in my own community. We owe it to these firefighters and their families. Once again, it is the right thing to do.

Speaker, I look and I see I only have a minute; I’ve never suffered from a lack of things to say as a politician. This is a good piece of legislation that my colleagues will elaborate on, because I still have more I wanted to talk about, but I’ll close on grade 11 apprentice pathway and just the broader theme of youth, of ending the stigma. When you’ve got a job in the skilled trades, you’ve got a job for life.

I think of the many remarkable young boys and girls when I’m visiting schools. You know what? I’ll just pause and say “new schools,” thanks to this Minister of Education; schools that aren’t being shut down, like they were in rural Ontario by the previous Liberal government. So when I go to these high schools, like Norwood high school, slated on the docket for shutdown by the previous Liberal government—and I’m proud to say that Norwood, which is increasing its population and responding to the Premier’s call to build more homes, has got a high school. The population is booming.

I sometimes get a hard time from my mom; she wants to know when the grandkids are on their way, because we see so many families walking. I see young boys and girls, and it’s so inspiring. Whether you’re new Canadians, whether you’ve lived in our community your whole life, I see families in our community, and they deserve to have a place close to home in which to be educated.

We’re saying to these young boys and girls that when you’ve got a job in the trades, you’ve got a job for life. You’re going to make things in this province. You’re going to build the roads and highways we need, the schools, the hospitals, the long-term-care homes that we need, and we’re working with these municipalities.

I’m truly proud of the work that we’re doing expanding the Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program. Stay tuned; we’ve got more to come, where we’re going board by board with the incredible Minister of Education to talk about those increases that we’re doing as a government: innovative pathways into the skilled trades; working with labour leaders like the labour leaders I was with this morning, listening to them, saying, “How do we get more men and women?”

I was 60 floors up, looking at the Toronto skyline, literally standing on the floors of soon-to-be apartments for working Ontarians, standing with the men and women. They were about to pour the concrete. It’s exciting, and I saw the sense of fulfillment that many of these workers had in building things a few years later. The biggest frustration, they said, was the permitting process. But I saw—it was just breathtaking: building floor by floor, talking to the workers about what they’re doing.

I’m grateful. I’m grateful for what they do, and I’m saying to them that you’ve got a government that’s listening. You’ve got a government that understands that not everybody needs to go to university. It’s great if you do—we need people there as well—but we recognize that we haven’t done enough in the skilled trades, and we’re going to do more. Stay tuned for Working for Workers 4, and so much more that this great ministry is going to do.

I’m not even a full day in in the Legislature in this new role, but I’m excited. I’m excited to work with our next generation. I’m excited to work with the many incredible men and women who are at this ministry. I’m excited to work with the new incredible political team there, to ensure that we’re responsive to the ever-changing labour needs of this great province, our home, Ontario.

With that, I’ll turn it over to my colleague, Speaker. Thank you very much.