Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Labour.

Last week, we were all shocked to hear about the 64 Mexican nationals who were labour-trafficked here in Ontario.

Advocates across the province are calling for an end to the exclusion of migrant workers from Ontario labour laws.

The minister, when boasting about the new Working for Workers 3 act, his legislation, told the Toronto Star that his ministry is establishing an anti-trafficking team—changes to ensure that workers like these in this story will be protected.

Can the minister clarify exactly how the Working for Workers 3 act would have ensured that these migrant workers would have been protected?

My question is, what is the minister doing to ensure that migrant workers like these, who contribute to our province, will be protected?

Speaker, Canada is facing an enormous labour shortage. In fact, recent data from Statistics Canada shows that the “unemployment to job vacancy” ratio in Canada is at a historically low level.

Here in Ontario, our health care sector is a prime example of where we are seeing extreme labour shortages, which has added to the health care crisis, especially as we try to tackle the challenges of overcapacity in our emergency rooms and insufferably long wait times for treatment.

According to the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, more than 60% of their businesses and workplaces are facing difficulty with hiring, whether it’s in health care, retail, construction, just to name a few. Our province simply does not have the human resources to fill this gap.

The Minister of Labour himself said that there are over 370,000 jobs across the province but not enough people to meet the demand. This demand is continuing to rise with a continuing increase in retirement and a slowdown of immigration, especially during COVID-19, owing to the massive immigration backlog on the federal level, and we are seeing thousands of jobs go unfilled.

Immigrants contribute greatly to every sector of our province, be it academic, scientific, cultural, manufacturing, food and agriculture, health care, and many more.

I am calling on the Premier and the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development to work collaboratively with the federal government to improve Ontario’s immigration process and address the massive immigration backlogs so that those who want to contribute to this province are able to do so and have the opportunity to build their life in this great province.