My question is to the Minister of Labour, Speaker. Earlier this month, the Naujawan Support Network, a worker support network in Brampton, wrote to the minister to highlight how investigations and enforcement of wage theft complaints to the ministry are dramatically down under this government.

They have asked the minister to reply by June 1 to set up a meeting to discuss this important issue. Will the minister agree to meet with the network to learn of their concerns?

This information comes directly from the ministry, the result of a freedom of information request: In 2014, there were 18,000 employment standards investigations. In 2021, that number dropped to 8,000.

Speaker, I want to quote the letter, actually. The workers whose wages are being stolen “regard the ministry as weak and ineffective—an institution that cannot enforce the orders it issues, and that will not prosecute employers who ignore the orders. Some employers are so carefree towards the ministry that they mockingly encourage their workers to file employment standards claims, believing they will never face serious consequences even if those claims are successful.”

Speaker, does the minister think it’s acceptable that millions of dollars—actually, $9 million—owed to workers in Brampton and elsewhere in the last year has been pocketed by greedy employers?