They chose not to. It speaks about their value systems.

We know that the previous Liberal government wanted to turn Ontario into a service economy. I didn’t believe it until I went to the forum for ministers in charge of skills development, for that skills development component of my portfolio. I looked back at the previous minutes and I looked at what Ontario said, and, colleagues, you would never believe—certainly, colleagues on this side would never have believed it.

In the minutes, they said, “We’re going to transition Ontario into a low-skill service economy.” That’s shocking.

I, actually, in the record, made a point of saying that under the leadership of this Premier, under the leadership of this Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, we’re bringing game-changing investments that are life-changing.

I was down in Niagara for the carpenters, to kick off their bargaining, and I had a great conversation with the carpenters. It was just a few nights ago. Josh Neville from Port Hope carpenters said to me that these sorts of legacy investments that this minister—who is the number one salesperson in Ontario—has brought into our province are not just game-changing, they’re life-changing. They’re life-changing for the men and women who are going to work on the automotive lines that are going to build the EVs of tomorrow. It’s life-changing for the Indigenous who are taking an equity-building stake in critical minerals in the north. It’s life-changing for those companies that are working to extract those critical minerals that are going to be the backbone. It’s game-changing for the building trades that are building these buildings. This minister keeps bringing these new investments in—I think the largest was NextStar in Windsor; then it was the largest again at Volkswagen, and now it’s the largest again with Honda.

I remember, in Windsor—it’s 16 times the size of SkyDome. What’s the size of the new building, Minister? It’s even bigger. If you think of something 16 times the size of SkyDome—I remember because I had family that worked on SkyDome. That was a massive amount of building trades coming together to build that big SkyDome. And now we are building buildings 16-plus times the size of that. Just think of the opportunities for men and women in the building trades.

Speaker, we’re also removing barriers for employment. It’s not just tradespeople we need in this province. An important part of our plan to fuel economic growth is improving job access for newcomers, and helping put internationally trained professionals on a path to success.

More proposed changes in this bill, if passed, would help fill thousands of jobs in Ontario going unfilled and close gaps in the labour market. As part of this bill, I’m proposing that regulated professions be required to have a policy to accept alternatives where applicants cannot obtain standard registration related documents for reasons beyond their control such as war or conflict or natural disasters. I mentioned this earlier.

I want to specifically acknowledge the leadership of my community in Northumberland–Peterborough South, who have welcomed Ukrainian refugees en masse, building on the incredible work we did to welcome Syrian refugees in our community. I recently visited Café Lviv for Mr. G’s birthday the other day—he’s the partner of the mayor of Port Hope—and I met a number of remarkable women working at that restaurant. I will encourage any member of this place, if you’re in Port Hope, visit Café Lviv. It’s an amazing restaurant. I was eating Ukrainian food, and I was speaking to one of the women who works there. Speaker, do you know what she is? She’s a pediatrician. She works in pediatrics, and she is working at a restaurant. I dedicate measures in this bill to her because we’re going to work hard to ensure people like her are actually practising on the front lines in health care, where they belong.

We’re proposing that regulated professions must have a plan to enable multiple registration steps to happen simultaneously. Imagine learning a new language, as these Ukrainian refugees have done, just to literally run a hurdle race like Perdita Felicien. It is insane. They are jumping hurdle after hurdle after hurdle. And do you know what happens, Speaker? They give up because of the ridiculous barriers put before them. So we’re talking about taking all of those steps, moving all of those steps, moving them concurrently, working with Fairness Commissioner Glasberg and working with these regulated bodies to make sure we’re slashing these barriers, doing concurrent approvals, making sure that we’re proposing to give the Fairness Commissioner a regulatory power, because we have to do better for these newcomers.

These proposed changes to the Fair Access to Regulated Professions and Compulsory Trades Act would remove barriers for foreign credential recognition and speed up registration. We already, in many respects, lead the nation in speeding up that registration process, but we can do more. Importantly, they would help newcomers transition to work in their field in which they train faster, again, leaving no one behind.

To complement this proposal, I’m proposing a regulatory change under the Ontario Immigration Act to expand occupations eligible for the in-demand skills stream of the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

Speaker, I’m looking forward to meeting with my federal counterpart, Minister Miller, to talk about this. Working with the federal government, we’ve expanded the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program. When it comes to processing times, we do it in 90 days here in Ontario. The minister in Manitoba with the cool new Premier over there—that minister said—she just sent me an email that she’s coming to visit Ontario, and we’re going to welcome her in this place to talk about better welcoming newcomers and the work Ontario is doing. I think all of us in the place can take pride in those processing times. I thank her for her leadership, and I’m looking forward to working with her to bring those same types of time guarantees to people immigrating to Manitoba too.

Further changes proposed as a part of Bill 190 would, if passed, improve internal review efficiency for the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program by allowing for the delegation of internal review functions to ministry officials.

And, finally, to complement this bill as a part of the Working for Workers package, we’re planning a new trusted employer model to make it easier for employers and nominees to access the Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program.

I wanted to give a big shout-out to all those employers out there, including many in my own riding, who do so well by these newcomers. It’s not just a job; it’s a family. It’s a support network. It’s so much more that these employers are offering these newcomers, and we want to recognize their leadership by those who have exemplary records, by recognizing them with a new trusted employer model, ensuring that newcomers can join the front lines of our workforce faster.

It’s going to reduce the administrative burden on employers that are trusted or experienced partners of this government. These changes mean better efficiency welcoming newcomers to our province, and they would further respond to the needs of businesses to better open Ontario to more people willing and eager to help us build a better and stronger Ontario, those great employers.

But, Speaker, we’re not stopping there. There’s so much more. Fairness for workers: That’s another important hallmark. Before I pass my time to the great member for Ajax, I would like to talk about working for workers who are already here in Ontario. It’s not just those who are currently working, but those who are currently looking for jobs too. I’m proposing to amend the Employment Standards Act to increase transparency for job seekers in two major ways: first, by requiring employers to disclose in publicly advertised job postings whether or not a vacancy currently exist.

Ghost jobs—the Toronto Star reported on that, and I had a great chat with them as we looked to implement these measures. A recent survey of hiring managers conducted by Clarify Capital in October 2023 found that 50% reported creating job openings to keep the talent pool at the ready for when they are hiring, without the actual intention to hire in the immediate future.

Speaker, think about what we have done as a government: requiring salary transparency in job postings; removing Canadian work experience requirements in previous Working for Workers bills; recognizing that sometimes it’s like a new job just to apply for another job, and that you’re running through and hopping over many hurdles to apply for that new job, just to find out it’s a ghost job and it doesn’t actually exist—that is not right—or just to find out that the salary being offered is one that is less than what you earn today. We took care of that in Working for Workers 4. They deserve to know whether their applying may get them a call back in the short term.

But, Speaker, we’re not stopping there. I’m also proposing changes to the Employment Standards Act to require employers to respond to interviewees for publicly advertised job postings. After the stress of an interview, the work preparing for it and the hope it raises, people deserve to know whether or not they got the job or if they’ll be called back another interview within a reasonable amount of time. We’ll work in regulation to specify that.

We’re saying an important thing in legislation here. We’re elevating the societal contract. We’re elevating that contract for many of the people here who look like they are going to be embarking on a great career ahead, who go for those interviews. You probably want to hear back if you got the job. You probably want the courtesy of knowing if there is something in that interview process that is an inhibitor for future jobs. Let’s get you the feedback you deserve, so that these young Ontarians—so that anyone in this place—can improve themself in that process. It’s elevating that societal discourse. It’s a mutual responsibility.

Speaker, we don’t talk enough about accountability and shared accountability: accountability for those applying for the job, accountability to those employers to ensure that they’re giving that feedback. And so, I look forward to working with employers and with job seekers as we roll this out, Speaker.

It has been an honour of a lifetime, just the last seven months in this role and the role in environment prior. I’m just scratching the surface on what this bill is doing. I know the member for Ajax will elaborate on other measures—getting tough on bad actors, doing so many more things in the legislation. But I’m incredibly proud, as someone who has grown up in rural Ontario, who was just recently at ENSS in Brighton, who looked to a graduating class I would say 50% of whom want to get into the trades, but have been told for too long that trades are perhaps for someone who is less academically inclined or are told a variety—and I don’t even want to perpetuate the stigmas here in this place, so I’ll stop right there.

But what we’re saying, and I think I speak on behalf of everyone in this place, is that we are treating the trades as a profession. We disagree, I’m sure, when it comes to health care, schools, education and how we get there. But I think everybody in this place, at their core, recognizes we do need new med schools. We do need new hospitals. We do need state-of-the-art campuses of care that I’m fighting for in Campbellford. I never miss an opportunity, folks, to bring up the new hospital I’d like to see in Campbellford. I’m advocating to my own government to get that for Campbellford. But we all agree, and this ambitious plan for health care that this Premier has led is putting the dollars to make that, hopefully, a reality for us.

We all agree we need those hospitals, we need those schools, we need those highways so that you can spend more time with your loved ones at home, so that you’re not stuck in gridlock. Honestly, I dread sometimes coming into Toronto in the gridlock. I breathe a sigh of relief when I hit the county of Northumberland. I see the rolling hills, I see the clear streets in front of me, and I know I’m that much closer to my wife, to the dogs and to getting home, to seeing my family. We can alleviate gridlock.

But it’s not just the highways and the roads, it’s public transit. For every $1 we spend on roads and bridges, we’re spending $2 on public transit. The largest low-carbon public transit project taking place in North America today is the Ontario Line. Who’s going to build all of this? Who’s going to lay the track? Who’s going to work underground—the labourers working underground, doing these tunnels?

I was at 183 the other day and saw the state-of-the-art tunnel system. I want to give a shout-out to Sandro Pinto, the training director, for showing us that incredible training opportunity for the tunnels at 183. Again, they’re doing such great work.

But for us to do these projects on time and on budget, for us to just get these shovels in the ground, we need men and women in the trades. This Premier and this government are smashing the stigma. We’re increasing paths. We’re breaking down the barriers, bringing core fundamentals back to high school: math, budgeting, STEM, tech trades—all of these things that, quite frankly, should have been done years ago. But we’re doing it. We’re bringing those fundamentals back to high school, and it’s going to better equip our next generation.

Again, when you have a job in the trades, you’ve got a career for life, but it’s so much more than that. You’re entrepreneurs. You’re running businesses. I think to friends of mine in my community. I was just with Tom Behan, Behan Construction. I was just with Steve Henderson, Henderson Construction. They’re starting work. They’re giving back to our community.

Where did I see Tom? I saw Tom at the youth wellness hub fundraiser. Why does a contractor get involved? So many of them give of their time for these important community efforts. It’s not even just about all that infrastructure I talked about. It’s those men and women in the trades who give of their time and their remarkable craftsmanship for free to support incredible initiatives like a youth wellness hub.

A big shout-out to Port Hope who got the 23rd youth wellness hub in Ontario—of course, under the leadership of Premier Ford and our government, we started 22 of them. We’ve now increased a new 10 in the budget to increase that number. I was proud to stand with colleagues the Minister of Health and the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions in Port Hope to announce that new youth wellness hub.

But behind all of these incredible initiatives, I again want to take it back to the workers—the workers who get up each and every day. I got up the other day at 4 to come into Toronto—it was mostly pickups on the 401 that I saw. It was men and women going to job sites early in the morning, those same men and women who build our hospitals, build our schools, build our public transit, build our roads, highways and bridges, and will be responsible for the 1.5 million homes we’ve set the ambitious target to build in Ontario. We see them, we hear them, we value them, and we’re removing barriers for youth in this province to become them.

I want to close with this. We announced recently in Mississauga at M City—and a big thank you to Steve Chaplin, the team at EllisDon and especially Michelle. Michelle was nervous; she was told just a few minutes before that we had asked her to speak. She said she would. Michelle did more than just speak to measures we’re doing to ensure bathrooms have a proper cleaning schedule. I think you will hear from the remarkable member from Ajax a bit more on that. We are doing common-sense changes to elevate, to bring the same quality you experience in a washroom on Bay Street to Main Street, and we’re doing it for workers across Ontario.

She said that common-sense changes like that, having washrooms for women but most importantly PPE—“I’m sick and tired of hearing from women who are wearing coveralls that are down to their knees and tripping, working doubly as hard to try to keep up with their counterpart.” We’re saying, you’ve got to have properly fitted PPE. It’s in regulation.

We are one of the first provinces to ever do that, these common-sense changes. Michelle stood at the podium to not just speak about important measures in this legislation that we’re doing—she and that team at EllisDon are supportive of the measures we’re putting in this bill—but she, more importantly, stood as a role model for women across Ontario.

We saw last year the largest number of women registered to become apprentices, among the largest in Ontario’s history. It is a proof point that the work we’re doing is working. We saw a 116% increase in women in the building trades.

Still, they only represent a small percentage of those on the work lines. But thanks to people like Michelle, who stand as a role model for young girls who look up to them, they know that there is a remarkable career ahead of them, that they can enter those jobs. Imagine, all of the things I mentioned we’re building in Ontario, doing that and ignoring 50% of the workforce. That doesn’t make any sense. So I’m proud of the work that this government is doing to break down barriers for women in the trades, to listen to them and to work with them to remove these barriers.

I want to close by saying it’s been a remarkable opportunity, working with the team at MLITSD—it’s a mouthful—on this bill. I just want to thank everybody who has contributed to this. This is so widely stakeholdered. It’s the voice—this is not just paper, these are the voices of thousands of Ontarians who have provided feedback to this bill. I want to thank them.

The best days are yet to come in Ontario. Under the leadership of this Premier we’re building a stronger Ontario. We’re leaving no one behind. We are a welcoming place for newcomers, we’re bashing down barriers for men and women to enter the skilled trades, providing a beacon of light for youngsters looking to enter skilled trades, and we couldn’t do it without the leadership of Premier Ford.

I just want to close by thanking everyone for giving me this opportunity to speak. I want to turn things to over to my incredible colleague and partner in all of this, the distinguished member from Ajax.