I’m very pleased that I have the opportunity to talk about an announcement that was made just last month in Hamilton, at the McMaster Children’s Hospital—it’s a three-year pilot project called integrated pathways for children. It was lauded, it was celebrated by families and by clinicians, because they understand that children with special needs have unique challenges—and that may be mental health concerns, developmental disabilities, or chronic conditions. Now, with this integrated pathway for children, it’s going to connect those highly individualized care programs that are so important and so critical for those families, into Holland Bloorview in Toronto, McMaster Children’s Hospital in Hamilton, and CHEO in Ottawa. It’s a really, really exciting program. I’ve already said that if this three-year pilot ends up being successful, it will no longer be a pilot; we will make sure it’s across Ontario.

And we are working more closely together with ministries within government than we have ever seen. It is exactly why we want to be able to be offer programs for the families. This is not about funding organizations. This is about ministries working together to make sure that those families do not have to go through multiple doors to look after their children.

My question is for the Premier.

On April 1, the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services cut the complex special-needs funding for nursing and PSW supports, which families with medically fragile children need to hire their support. These cuts impact approximately 100 families who have some of the most medically fragile children in the province. These cuts happened without warning, and no transition plans were provided to these families. This is completely unacceptable and must be reinstated immediately.

Can the Premier explain why this essential funding was cut, why there was no transition plan provided for families, and how his government plans to address this?

Can the Premier commit to ensuring that ministries will start to work together to find long-term solutions for families with medically fragile children, so they can get the care they need, when they need it?