It’s a pleasure to stand in my place today.

Speaker, indulge me: On September 25, 1963, the Progressive Conservatives were elected to another majority government of the leader of Premier John Robarts. As part of that 27th Parliament, there was a young man, a 40-year-old man and father of 13, from the little village of Barry’s Bay, who was also elected and, in keeping with the theme of these speeches today, was the first person of Polish descent ever elected to this Legislature. That man happened to be my father, Paul Joseph Yakabuski, and today is the 60th anniversary of his election. I am so proud of the work that he did before me and how he served his people and he served us as our father. I know that none of the things that I’ve been able to do here—or even being able to get here—could have been accomplished without the work of my father before me. So, on the 25th of September, 2023, happy 60th anniversary, Dad. Thank you.

I was hoping that I’d hear something from the member about the bill, but I only heard this dissertation and this indictment of the WSIB and the worker’s compensation plans.

But then I heard from the member from Sudbury talking about recruitment into the police forces. I can tell you, when I talk to people who are considering a career in policing, it isn’t the compensation, because they’re well compensated. Police are well compensated. But I’ll tell you what they’re concerned about. They’re concerned about getting into a career when people like the NDP continue to go around and call for the defunding of the police and look for every opportunity to attack the brave members of our police forces across this province and across this country.

If you want to attract people to the police forces, stop attacking them every chance you get and end with your ridiculous campaign of defunding the police. That’s what you need to do.

You will speak to the bill, right, because the NDP don’t speak to it.

I want to thank the member for Orléans for what I would say was a pretty balanced approach to what is and isn’t in Bill 79, contrary to what I heard from the New Democrats earlier, where they wanted to go back for 20 years and a litany of things that they don’t like. Because, you see, they have abandoned workers in this province, but we’re supporting workers in this province. And I appreciate what the member for Orléans had to say about the positive aspects of this bill, because no bill can address everything, otherwise they’d be that thick. But this bill is about supporting workers and also making sure that Ontario has the workforce to see that we can advance and progress over the next several years and the next number of decades.

So you did talk about the flooding in 2019 and your support for reservists, and I couldn’t agree with you more. Can you elaborate a little more on some of the aspects of that part of the bill that you find really positive and will be really good for families that have someone serving in the reserves?