Speaker, I’m proud to rise to talk about a fund—a fund that, sadly, the opposition voted against: the Skills Development Fund. It’s over a billion dollars, and it has helped train half a million Ontarians.

Let me tell you two quick stories—one, Shanika. I met her at the newcomers’ centre in downtown Toronto. She talked about purpose-driven careers, thanks to work this government is doing supporting Sara Asalya and the team there with the Skills Development Fund investment. Thanks to that, she has gotten out of dead-end jobs; she has now got purpose in her life, because we’re lifting her up—something the opposition would never do.

Another story: Phil Fournier, Ironworkers 759—again, working dead-end cash jobs, not paying taxes; now a contributing member of the north. He’s inspiring. He’s training the next generation of ironworkers. He has joined the union up there, again, thanks to the Skills Development Fund.

This government is going to continue investing in the skilled trades because we’re actually building things. After decades of neglect, we’re getting it done for highways, roads, bridges—you name it. We’re getting it done and training—

It’s so nice to be back here with everyone, and thank you to the member for that important question.

Speaker, I think, yesterday, on Family Day, many people likely spent a lot of time with Ontario’s fantastic restaurant and hospitality workers. I’d like to thank Kelly, Tracy and the incredible team at Restaurants Canada for the work that they do. In fact, it’s 400,000 diligent workers in Ontario’s service sector who get up each and every day, working hard, and that’s why we’ve tackled to implement significant measures to support them.

In our latest Working for Workers bill, we’ve introduced measures that, if passed, will disclose salary ranges in job postings, ban unpaid trial shifts and prohibit wage deductions in instances like dine-and-dash. These are important measures we’re taking to ensure that we stand with these great workers who help make our precious time with friends and family worth it. I want to thank them for the great work that they do. This government will always have their backs.

Thank you, Speaker, for the question.

I want to touch on two other measures we’re taking. One, we’re ensuring the disclosure of policies related to sharing of pooled tips in restaurants—that’s another important measure we’ve heard from workers is important—and empowering those workers to take home more of their tip pay. We’ve seen in many restaurants they use apps on your phone now to access your tips, and that’s taking deductions off of the hard-working pay of these workers. That’s why we’re empowering them to select where and how those tips get deposited into the bank accounts of these hard-working workers.

But I will just close saying, for these workers to work, you actually need to create the conditions for jobs. That’s why our government has worked so hard. You’ve heard from the Minister of Economic Development the incredible conditions we’ve put in place to attract these high-paying jobs in Ontario that support our hospitality and service workers—

I first want to say, Speaker, we’re excited about the world-class EV battery manufacturing that’s taking place in Ontario thanks to the leadership of this Premier and this Minister of Economic Development.

Speaker, the Minister of Economic Development and I have asked a very simple question; we’ve written to the federal government and asked them to disclose the number of foreign workers currently working on the site and how many will be arriving at the site via the labour market impact assessment. Then, we just asked simply that the federal government disclose the labour impact assessment, make it public and just share with Ontarians how many foreign workers they expect to arrive.

We know there’s going to be thousands of good Ontario unionized jobs created on this site, and it’s no thanks to the members opposite. We’re creating those jobs thanks to investments this government is making. I look forward to explaining to the member from Windsor West next about more work this great government is doing to invest in jobs.

You know, Speaker, I’ve got the letter from that member opposite where she meanders to talk about MZOs, but there’s one thing we do agree about: This $15-billion project is of huge significance to my community, our province and our country. What that member fails to recognize is the very MZOs she talks about in this letter—we issued one to get that record investment in her community.

Secondly, this minister and this Premier have been working around the clock to land these deals, no thanks to them. They voted against every single measure in this place to support workers in her own community. Those workers know that the only time they’ll see that member is when she and her seatmate show up for the photo op.

Speaker, they can decry everything they want, notwithstanding the decent photo op, because that’s what NDP stands for. They only show up for—

Interjections.

There’s a lot to unpack there, but I want to address the critical piece in this bill. We heard how the members opposite would govern if, God forbid, they ever had the chance to do so in Ontario. They feel that MECP sit on their hands and wait until the class EA process is done, which reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the class EA process. We don’t close our eyes, hold our breath and close our ears and eyes until the end of the six-month process. It’s a constant relationship where we’re back and forth with the proponent on a constant basis, where we’re addressing any challenges and where we’re responsive to the ERO posting and that feedback.

Months later, when this is done and there’s this arbitrary 30-day waiting period, they want us to start reviewing it then. Well, I’ve got news for them: MECP is constantly working with proponents from day one, not closing their eyes and ears, as the members opposite would have them do.