Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: Our government will never compromise when it comes to the safety of our travelling public. As per Transport Canada regulations, all ferries must be staffed with qualified and properly trained workers, and our goal is to make sure that all ferries are safely operational as soon as possible. That’s why we’re working so diligently towards it.

We have new ferries coming on board. The new Wolfe Islander IV and the Amherst Islander II ferries will be in service as soon as possible. As I said, our government is committed to working across the country with our partners, but also within government, with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities, to make sure that we have training programs in place so that we can have workers operating our ferries as soon as possible.

I thank the member opposite for the question. Ferries are an integral part of Ontario’s transportation network, and I know that communities across the province rely on this essential mode of transportation for them to get to and from their homes and for first responders as well.

Ontario is facing a historic shortage of workers that impacts sector across the board, including an industry-wide shortage of licensed seafarers that has affected ferry operations in the province. Mr. Speaker, in our budget, we announced funding for 20 new staff for our ferries. And in response to this industry-wide shortage of seafarers, my ministry is working with the Ministry of Colleges and Universities so that we can offer more training programs to get more workers in the industry.

Mr. Speaker, this is not just a problem that is facing Ontario; it is a problem across the country. And that’s why, at my most recent federal-provincial-territorial ministers meeting, I had the opportunity to discuss this with my colleagues from across the country so that we can make sure that we’re addressing it so that we can get ferries operating on a consistent basis.