I’m surprised to hear the NDP defending Justin Trudeau, frankly. And yes, I have expressed my dissatisfaction with the lack of consultation by the federal government. But don’t just listen to me: In fact, the BC Premier, who is an NDP Premier, said, “My message for Minister Miller would be to work with the province on this.... A federally dictated cap could have profound and negative impacts.”

From the NDP BC housing minister, Minister Kahlon: “The concern I have is they need to talk to the provinces on how they are going to do this. Saying they are going to put a cap on might sound good and get them through a media cycle, but these are people we are talking about.”

New Brunswick Post-Secondary Education Minister Holder said the cap “is going to be a major challenge. It’s going to throw a major wrench into the whole recruitment side of things this year ... penalized for their good work” when it comes to recruiting international students needed to help address the local labour market needs.

In fact, the federal minister did absolutely no consultation with any of the provinces, and yes, we are all dissatisfied with the result.

But myself and many members of this House—and I spoke with the minister of small businesses about the impact that we’re going to see on our local economies. Again, not just from me, but I have a quote from the CFIB president Dan Kelly: “The recent changes will impact many small businesses who are grappling with labour shortages, particularly those in smaller and rural communities.... While it’s understandable why government wants to put some limits in place, it needs to move carefully and consider implications for the whole economy.”

The Niagara chamber of commerce, Hugo Chesshire: “If there is a sudden drop in the number of graduating students in these professions, in these trades and then, years down the line as that gap works down into the labour market, there’ll be another labour shortage to come.” There just won’t be “enough students.”

Mr. Speaker, we will be looking forward to our response coming shortly.

Thank you to the member of the opposition for that question. And that is correct: Quite frankly, we are very disappointed in the federal decision that was made, a unilateral decision without consultation with the provinces or any of the post-secondary institutions. We are working very closely with our institutions right now.

But I can tell you, this is going to be an economic hit across not only Ontario, but across Canada. That’s what we were hearing from many different organizations. I talked to the tourism association during the ROMA conference and heard from them directly the impact that they foresee happening in the hospitality and tourism industry in Ontario.

As I have said, the Premier and the Prime Minister signed a historic health care deal. We need to ensure that we have enough PSWs to fill those spaces for the Minister of Long-Term Care, and enough nurses in this province for the Ministry of Health. We are going to continue working very closely with our partners, and we will have more to say by the March 31 deadline.

I’ve heard extreme dissatisfaction from many institutions—but more importantly, the economic impact this is going to have on Canada and Ontario. The Minister of Economic Development is bringing new companies here to Ontario every single week, and guess one of the reasons they come here? It’s because of the talented pipeline of students that we have in this province.

I will continue to work with our institutions and we will be addressing this by the March 31 deadline.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier announced an additional tuition freeze moving forward for students. I want to ensure affordability for students. There’s an affordability crisis in Ontario and across Canada right now: the cost of housing, the cost of food and the cost of gas. But what this government is doing is ensuring that post-secondary education is affordable for all students in this province.

I’d like to talk about the international students and the chaos that the federal government has caused in the post-secondary sector across Canada—absolutely no consultation with the provinces or the institutions themselves.

I am hearing from ministers on this side about the impact that this is going to have in their ministries. In fact, the Premier and the Prime Minister just signed a historic health care deal. Where do you think the PSWs and the nurses are going to come from that the Minister of Long-Term Care and the Minister of Health are going to need? Where are we going to find the skilled trade workers that the Minister of Labour and the Minister of Infrastructure are going to need to build the houses, the roads, the schools, the hospitals in this province?

Mr. Speaker, absolutely no consultations with the provinces or these institutions themselves—absolutely disgusting from the federal government.