My ministry and our government are always looking for alternative service delivery models, building on a century of private sector delivery models. Small business will always be part of that, but the retail partnership process is also such a great success, with the extended hours, with the convenience and the community hubs associated with it. Every single location that was due to expire anyway, every single one of those employees is eligible for employment at any one of the retail partnerships, including that of Staples Canada.

This is good news for Ontarians. They welcome the longer hours—up to 9 p.m. weeknights, all day Saturday—more accessibility, more parking and the convenience of online booking. That is interaction with government that puts the customer first. The people of Ontario come first every time with ServiceOntario.

As I have indicated, there are no job losses whatsoever on the government side. Everyone on the private side has the opportunity and are eligible for employment at the extended-hours locations of the nine Staples Canada locations.

Our ministry officials took the opportunity, with expiring contracts at some ServiceOntario locations, to reach out to a dozen potential retail partners. This is part of a tradition that goes back a century. Every party that has ever formed government here at Queen’s Park has embraced and expanded the private service delivery model, to the point where we now have 71% private sector delivery models in this province, and it works. The retail partnership model has proven so successful with Canadian Tire, IDA and Home Hardware that we’ve expanded it:

—longer hours—up to 9 p.m. on weeknights;

—more parking;

—more accessibility;

—ability to make appointments online, so you can get in and out of interacting with government in just 15 minutes; and

—of course, all-day Saturdays, 9 to 5.

This is what Ontarians have embraced and appreciate. It’s about convenience. It’s about putting the customer first. The people of Ontario come first. That’s why we’re doing this.

I rise to share wonderful news, from last Friday, in my riding of Durham. Together with my colleague the member for Scarborough Centre and the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development, we confirmed the wonderful news that Bowmanville High School has received $77,200 in grant funding from the ministry’s Skills Development Fund for the purchase of high-tech machinery to better prepare our students for careers in the tooling and machine industries.

Mr. Speaker, with hundreds of students graduating each year from Durham College’s various industrial programs, this investment is an excellent example of our government’s commitment to invest in the skilled trades and encourage the youth of Ontario to pursue rewarding careers in the skilled trades.

Under the leadership of Premier Ford and the Minister of Labour, along with the valued partnerships of the Canadian Tooling and Machining Association and the Ontario Council for Technology Education, our government is fulfilling its commitment to our youth to invest in new technology and invest in the skilled trades at the college and secondary levels.

I’d like to recognize all who joined my colleague and I, including the chair of the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board, Steve Russell, his colleagues, and Mayor Adrian Foster, all of whom pledged to support our government’s investments in a key industry that will create well-paying, long-lasting jobs for our youth and contribute to Ontario’s prosperity in the future.