Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. The bill amends the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act with respect to colleges of applied arts and technology, and publicly assisted universities. The amendments include the following:

(1) Every college and university is required to have a student mental health policy that describes the programs, policies, services and supports available at the college or university in respect of student mental health;

(2) Every college and university is required to have policies and rules to address and combat racism and hate, including, but not limited to, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Black racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia; and

(3) The minister is authorized to issue directives in relation to the information to be provided about the costs associated with attending a college or university.

Mr. Rakocevic moved first reading of the following bill:

Bill 167, An Act to proclaim Orthodox Christian Week / Projet de loi 167, Loi proclamant la Semaine des chrétiens orthodoxes.

I don’t know if the Leader of the Opposition has done anything to lobby for additional seats in this province, but we on this side have been working hard at that. In fact, I’ve met with the tourism industry and the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. The number of workers that your ministry needs alone—look at March break coming up: the resorts, the front desks, the ski hills. The workers that we need in this province—it’s absolutely incredible.

We are disgusted with the federal government for dropping this on the provinces with no consultation. The Minister of Labour and I tried to meet with the minister months ago and were not able to because they kept cancelling on us. We have been there, working with our stakeholders, the colleges and universities, to ensure that we have a pathway forward as we deal with the disgrace that the federal government has dropped on us.

Thank you to the member for that question. We are taking our time and reviewing the 31 recommendations from the blue-ribbon panel’s report. We’re working very closely with Colleges Ontario and the Council of Ontario Universities as well. We’re putting working groups together to work directly with my ministry on those recommendations.

But we launched the blue-ribbon panel because we wanted independent and expert-driven advice to help form a practical and principled way forward for the sector. I’ll tell you, if we wanted to waste tax dollars, we would have called it the orange or the red panel.

But while the Liberals and NDP blew their chance to prioritize students when they held the balance of power, our government will always put the needs and future of students first. Unlike our blue-ribbon panel that focused on a shared approach to supporting post-secondary education in Ontario, the Liberals and NDP previously partnered in blowing through spending, blowing off the needs of students and blowing off their responsibility to the taxpayers of this province. That is why our government struck a blue-ribbon panel to ensure that the student experience and access to education—

My ministry has already begun working with institutions on a financial accountability framework that will allow for early detection of financial challenges and require immediate action to correct bad practices. In order for our sector to be sustainable for the long term, institutions need to take leadership and review their operations from top to bottom. From governance practices, program offerings, day-to-day operations, and everything in between, colleges and universities across the province need to become the best possible version of themselves. This is not a change that will happen overnight, but it is one that is necessary so that students, families and of course the taxpayers can have confidence that every dollar is being allocated appropriately and with complete transparency.

Let’s look at the timeline of events here: The former minister received PEQAB’s recommendation and accepted the recommendations years ago. Then, the Court of Appeal dismissed Canada Christian College’s appeal. The ministry is accepting the court’s decision and thanks the courts for their work on this matter.

But maybe instead we should focus—the opposition should focus their time on matters that courts have already ruled on. They focus on, what are we doing now? Every year, this ministry spends millions of dollars on research to support the latest medical advancements, EV and other critical fields. Our government is getting shovels in the ground to build housing, highways, new student housing opportunities in this province. But, again, the opposition says no to every single initiative.

As Minister of Colleges and Universities, I’m ensuring that our government is getting it done through investing in health human resources to ensure that we have more doctors, more nurses and a new medical school in this province.

I, too, would like to introduce my second family, my staff who are here from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities today. Thank you for everything that you do to support me, but more importantly the students, families and schools of Ontario.

I would like to introduce two of my new policy staff members from the Ministry of Colleges and Universities: Matt Frola and Tay Rubman. Thank you for being here today.