We typically take a whole-of-government approach to bills when we’re putting them forward. I want to give a shout-out in particular to the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity. She did a number of round tables in my riding. One of the things that came up in the round table for women in business, especially in the trades, was some of the challenges around simple things like the washroom. Here we have in this bill some changes to that, to make it more accessible for women, to effectively double the number of washrooms, the number of porta-potties at worksites. There were a number of other things that came up from those round tables, and I’m expecting to see some of those come in future bills.

But my question to the member is—I know there are things that are missing in it. I’m hoping that you will agree that this is actually a positive move forward on something as simple as having appropriate washrooms for both males and females. Would you agree with that?

My question is for the Associate Minister of Women’s Social and Economic Opportunity. Our government is building a province where all women and girls are empowered to succeed. That starts with getting more women into jobs than ever before. Women entrepreneurs are essential to our province’s economic success, accounting for nearly 20% of all small and medium-sized businesses in Ontario.

I was proud to join the associate minister at a round table hosted by the Peterborough Chamber of Commerce. We had the opportunity to hear from many women leaders in my community. From our discussions, many women identified that they continue to experience challenges, barriers and red tape in starting and scaling up their businesses.

Speaker, what actions is our government taking to support the advancement of economic opportunity for women in our province?