August E-News Letter

Message From Your MPP

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Dear Neighbours,

As the warm summer days continue to embrace us, I hope this message finds you all in good health and enjoying the beautiful season. August brings with it a sense of joy and relaxation, providing a well-deserved break for families to come together and create cherished memories.

Throughout this summer, our community has been buzzing with exciting events and activities that celebrate our cultural diversity and collective spirit. From vibrant summer festivals to engaging community gatherings, I have been delighted to see our residents come together to enjoy the best of what Mississauga-Malton has to offer.

I am thrilled to announce that our government is investing $5.4 million to create three mobile tech classrooms operated by Skills Ontario. These classrooms will travel across the province, teaching students and young people about skilled trades. Providing them with hands-on learning stations for trades, like electrical systems and welding. In the coming three years, almost half a million people will benefit from this initiative. The mobile classrooms will also aid the province’s infrastructure plans and help find over 100,000 new skilled trades workers, supporting well-paying careers and preparing students for future opportunities. The project is funded through the Skills Development Fund, which supports programs connecting job seekers with the necessary skills for successful careers. Let’s continue working together to create a brighter and more prosperous Ontario for all.

This coming Monday, August 7th, let us celebrate the Civic Holiday. Where we reflect on the significance of civic engagement and the importance of being active participants in shaping the future of our province. As your MPP, I encourage each of you to take advantage of this holiday signifies; to explore and appreciate the rich diversity that makes our province unique. Whether it’s discovering local parks, attending community events, or simply spending quality time with loved ones, let us use this day to celebrate our shared values and the vibrant tapestry of cultures that make Ontario a wonderful place to call home.

As always, my team and I are here to serve you. If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas to share, please do not hesitate to reach out to my office. Your input is invaluable, and together, we can continue to make Mississauga-Malton an even better place for everyone.

Wishing you a joyful and memorable August. Let’s cherish the remaining days of summer and continue to support and uplift one another.

Sincerely,

Deepak Anand

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Investments In Ontario

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Updates from Queen’s Park

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Skilled Trades Are Up In Ontario!

The demand for skilled tradespeople has never been higher and will continue to rise as our province grows.

The Ontario government has increased apprenticeship registrations by 24 percent in the last year – from 21,971 to 27,319 – as more people pursue rewarding, well-paying careers in the skilled trades. In addition, the second year of the province’s highly popular skilled trades career fairs for students will be expanding to even more cities around the province.

Ontario’s skilled trades career fairs for students will return for the second year in a row and in more cities. Students in grades 7 to 12 will have the chance to learn about over 140 different skilled trades through interactive exhibitions and hands-on activities while hearing directly from tradespeople and local employers about their pathways in these lucrative careers. Last year, 12,800 students, parents, friends, and teachers visited events in Thunder Bay, Sudbury, London, Mississauga, and Ottawa.

We have also quadrupled the Mobile Classrooms touring the province to give students hands-on and simulated exposure to what it’s like working in skilled trades.

Stay tuned to our newsletters for this year’s dates and locations.

Better Schools and Student Outcomes

Boards will be required to engage with parents on development and will have to report on their progress. We have listened to parents, and are making it clear to school boards that common sense must be at the centre of our education system.

Other key changes include:

• Requiring school boards to cooperate with child care service system managers to develop and implement child care and early years programs and services plans
• Restrictions onboard the use of revenue, which includes the authority to envelop funding, as well as expanding the type of financial investigators able to investigate school boards’ use of funds.
• Requiring school boards to publicly PA Day topics, activities guest speakers, sponsoring organizations, and published resources when available on the board’s or school’s public website.

Ontario Helping More Women in Mississauga Build Skills and Get Jobs

This will help ensure faith-based organizations (such as churches, mosques, temples, or synagogues) and cultural organizations (such as those that serve Black, Indigenous, Asian, or 2SLGBTQIA+ communities) have safe and secure community spaces to practice their faith or express their cultures and beliefs.

These organizations can receive a one-time grant of $5,000, $7,500, or $10,000 (based on their 2022 revenues) to enhance or implement measures that protect and secure their facilities from:

• hate-motivated incidents
• graffiti
• vandalism
• other damages

Recipients can use the funding to enhance or implement protection measures, such as:

• making building upgrades
• enhancing locks
• installing cameras
• training staff
• completing security assessments
• introducing safer cybersecurity measures
• hiring professional security
• making repairs

Ontario Connecting Children and Youth to Care Close to Home

This new investment will go toward the quick implementation of over 100 high-priority initiatives expanding youth access to:

• emergency care
• surgeries
• ambulatory services
• diagnostic imaging
• mental health services

This investment includes up to $45 million from the Ministry of Children, Community, and Social Services for children’s rehabilitation services, including occupational therapy, physiotherapy, and speech and language services. The additional funding will also help providers hire and retain more staff to reduce wait times to give children and families more timely access to clinical assessments, early intervention, and school-based rehabilitation for children with special needs.

Growing Ontario’s Healthcare Workforce

• The Practice Ready Ontario program for doctors will break down barriers for internationally educated physicians by removing the requirement to complete lengthy re-education programs allowing them to practice in Ontario immediately. This program will add more than 50 new physicians to the province’s workforce by 2024.
• The Clinical Scholar Program pairs an experienced front-line nurse as a dedicated mentor with newly graduated nurses, internationally educated nurses, and nurses wanting to up-skill to ensure they have the support they need to transition confidently into the nursing profession.
• The Models of Care Innovation Fund is a new $40 million fund to encourage healthcare partners to bring forward innovative ideas to connect Ontarians to better services and care. Applications from eligible organizations – including hospitals, health care facilities, long-term care homes, home care providers, family health teams, nurse practitioner-led clinics, Ontario Health Teams, and others, including mental health service providers – can be submitted via Ontario Health starting July 24.

Ontario Establishes First New Conservation Reserve in Over 10 Years

This reserve will help protect and repopulate the thousands of monarch butterflies who frequent this area as part of their annual migration, as well as a variety of at-risk birds, reptiles, and plants. Activities are limited in the preservation of the natural systems, but there is hiking available to explore.

Temporary Work Agencies Will Soon Require Operating Licenses

This also disrupts the labour market for legitimate agencies and workers by undercutting the value of labour.

Our government is taking action to protect temporary workers and ensure a fair playing field for hiring practices, by requiring all temporary help agencies to obtain a license by January 1, 2024, that will need to be renewed each year.

Offenders and companies that knowingly source labour through unlicensed agencies will face fines of up to $50,000 as well as repayment of illegal fees and wage differences.

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Out and About

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