I have serious concerns about what’s happening on our campuses across Ontario. I have heard from students and from staff alike. Our committee members heard from students.

Let me read you some of the Hansard from committee. This is an independent member—mandating mental health policies is “red tape.” At committee, we heard from a member who called the anti-hate provisions of this bill “red tape.” That member heard the testimonies of students who were made to feel so unwelcome and unsafe that they stopped going back to campus. The member is more concerned about burdening university staff than the well-being of our students.

We also heard the need for centralizing reporting of incidents. Again, committee members heard from the National Council of Canadian Muslims, which expressed a need for centralized reporting of hate crimes to the ministry—according to these, incidents of hate are far often not reported to institutions and aren’t addressed in a timely manner.

We heard from a lot of students who were saying, “I understand that government froze tuition, but how come my tuition keeps going up every year?” That was because of the extra costs. So the legislation will require universities and colleges to, up front, explain the costs for programs.

I mentioned in my speech, when I went, I remember my microbiology class—you pay for these expensive textbooks, but then you find out once you start class that you also had a lab coat and you had your little microbiology kit. I remember going to the library—and, of course, they ranged from all expenses.

We want students to know up front what the expense is going to be for all their programs, as well as a tuition breakdown.

So, working with our colleges and universities—and I also want to thank MPP Smith for her motion as well, working with the anti-hate policy.

We’re going to work together with the institutions, and we want to ensure that these policies are the same across all campuses. Whether you’re at Georgian College or at Lakehead, the same expectation is going to be there for all students.

And he would know—because you were a PA back in 2018, when our party came into government and Ontario had the highest tuition in all of Canada. And under the leadership of Premier Ford, we decreased that tuition by 10% and have continued to freeze it every year since.

Life is expensive—expensive for all families. We have a cost-of-living crisis, and the thought of increasing tuition for students was absolutely ridiculous. This was not something that we were going to do, and the Premier was quite clear about that.

We’ve heard from the leader of the Liberal Party. She’s interested in increasing tuition. I’m not quite sure where the NDP stand on it, but we’ve made an investment in our institutions, and we’re going to work with our institutions to ensure that they’re running as efficiently as possible. We’re already doing some great work and some great collaboration that’s happening with our institutions, and I look forward to continuing that work moving forward.

These are the students that I’m concerned about, the stories that I’ve heard about, but we’re going to work with our colleges and universities to ensure that we have an anti-hate policy in place to protect all of our students across this province.

This is the same party that opposes building student housing on campuses and in communities across Ontario, so we’ll take no lessons from the party across.

We’ve expanded the OSAP program to be eligible for students who are enrolled in Indigenous institutions and micro-credentials, so that more and more students can have access to OSAP. But because it’s a needs-based program, we’ve actually seen a decrease in the number of students who are accessing the OSAP program.

It’s initiatives like the Ontario Learn and Stay Grant, which is seeing free tuition for students who are enrolling in nursing programs, paramedic programs and lab tech programs across the province. They are receiving free tuition in exchange for working in areas of high needs following graduation.

It’s ensuring that students who are attending colleges have access to three-year degrees at colleges, increasing the number of degrees in colleges, so students can continue to learn closer to home.

We are seeing a decrease in the number of students using those programs.

Thank you to the member for such an important question. Our government has a zero-tolerance policy for any form of sexual violence or harassment. As a mother of three post-secondary-aged daughters, I know first-hand the feeling as a parent of wanting your kids to enjoy everything the post-secondary education journey has to offer, while still worrying about their safety and their well-being.

One of the first actions I took as Minister of Colleges and Universities was to participate in sector-wide consultations to determine how, as a sector, we could better address instances of sexual violence on campus. What we heard across the board is that we need to find ways to not only empower survivors but also deal with the issues surrounding the prevalence of power dynamics and secrecy in many instances of sexual violence.

If passed, Bill 26 will tackle just that. It will prevent any instances of sexual violence committed by a faculty or staff member from going unreported and prevent those who commit acts of sexual violence from moving from one institution to the next under the protection of non-disclosure agreements. I look forward—

In speaking with many of those faculty and staff members, the changes we are proposing in Bill 26 are long overdue and desperately needed in the sector. Specifically, these changes would give institutions stronger tools to address instances of faculty or staff sexual misconduct against students, prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements and further require institutions to have sexual misconduct policies in place.

Our government will always do what is necessary to keep the people of Ontario safe. As minister and mother, I encourage members of our faculty and staff across the post-secondary sector to stand with me and our government to make sure that students are safe on campuses.

Speaker, it is an honour to rise in the House today to introduce two important sets of legislative amendments relating to post-secondary education. First, I am pleased to introduce legislative amendments that would require publicly assisted colleges and universities and private career colleges to have specific processes in place that address, and increase transparency of, faculty and staff sexual misconduct on post-secondary campuses. The strengthened policies would allow institutions to deem the sexual abuse of a student as just cause for dismissal; prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements to address cases where an employee leaves an institution to be employed at another institution and their prior wrongdoing remains a secret; and require institutions to have sexual misconduct policies in place that provide rules for behaviour between faculty, staff and students, as well as disciplinary measures for faculty and staff who break these rules.

Additionally, I am delighted to announce that our government is introducing legislative amendments so Ryerson University can legally change its name to Toronto Metropolitan University. The proposed change in name supports our government’s efforts to ensure Ontario has a post-secondary system that embraces diversity, inclusivity and promotes success for all learners—including Indigenous learners—so they can find rewarding careers.

These legislative amendments will help Toronto Metropolitan University begin a new chapter in its history that better reflects the current values and aspirations of the institution.

Mr. Vanthof moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 27, An Act to amend the Planning Act to protect agricultural land / Projet de loi 27, Loi modifiant la Loi sur l’aménagement du territoire afin de protéger les terres agricoles.