Good morning, Speaker. I rise to thank Wyndham House for the vital work they do in Guelph to support vulnerable youth. I had the honour last week to join Wyndham House, the mayor of Guelph, the warden of Wellington county and community members for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open an eight-bedroom supportive housing project for youth experiencing homelessness.

At the first point-in-time count for homelessness in Guelph in 2014, there were 90 youth experiencing homelessness. That number is now down to five, putting Guelph on track to be the first community in Ontario to end youth homelessness.

I want to thank Wyndham House, the city and the county, the provincial and the federal governments, and generous donors who supported this project.

Studies show that for every $10 invested in permanent supportive housing, the government saves $21.75 in other costs. More importantly, housing stabilizes and improves people’s lives. I’m proud that our community has come together with a Yes In My Backyard campaign, securing support for this housing project and two other permanent supportive housing projects.

I urge the government to increase funding for supportive housing in communities across Ontario, because the return on investment is priceless.

I want to thank the member from Newmarket–Aurora for her exceptional work in promoting health in the classroom. I’d be remiss to also give a message of gratitude, I think on behalf of all parliamentarians, to the member from Burlington for her leadership in this House, in this province and country, advancing mental health literacy for the next generation. We are inspired through her work, and because of her motion, we’re standing today proudly to advance the cause of mental health literacy, mandating it across the curriculum, including strengthening it in grades 7 and 8 for our teachers and for our students, as well as mandatory learning in grade 10. Connecting it with the real-life skills, young people can now use part of this curriculum in grade 10 careers as they start to give thought to higher learning post-secondary, skilled trades learning and to come up with a useful tool kit of ways by which they can manage stress and angst in their life.

Speaker, I also want to affirm that part of this announcement is the expansion of funding. Under our Premier’s leadership, we’ve increased funding by 550%, a positive step forward as we help to ensure the success and the health of children—

When you compare the former Liberal government peak of spending in mental health in schools, we were around $18 million per year. Today, under our government’s leadership, we’ve increased funding to $114 million, a 550% increase in mental health. I accept fully that we have to keep going, keep investing, keep lifting standards and keep supporting these kids, because demands are rising—the member is absolutely right.

As part of the announcement we made last week, and thanks to the leadership of the member from Burlington, we are going to be funding summer learning to create an annualized experience, access 12 months a year. The system wasn’t designed for kids. Kids would have access to a psychologist, a psychotherapist till June and then have to pivot to community in the summer. We’re going to expand capacity this year, add $14 million next year and $16 million the year after to ensure kids have dependable access to mental health in every community across Ontario.

Thank you so much to the member for the question. It was such a pleasure to visit Thunder Bay with my colleagues last week. While we were in Thunder Bay, we announced the Internet service providers that will be building 14 high-speed Internet projects, an investment of $8.4 million through the province of Ontario’s ICON program, which was actually the very first application-based program created by my colleague the MPP from Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. This $8.4 million will go a long way, as it will connect 11,000 businesses and homes in northern Ontario to high-speed Internet.

It was such a pleasure to speak with municipalities as well as residents in Thunder Bay about the importance of getting that work done as quickly as possible and making sure that no one is left behind.

Why this is so important is, we’re investing in over 200 projects currently today—$2.3 billion. We want every single resident to be able to access that information online and see when the project starts, how much funding is being committed to it and which technology will be used. Again, we will not leave anyone behind.

This petition is from City View Alternative school.

“Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from the Elementary Teachers of Toronto to Stop the Cuts and Invest in the Schools our Students Deserve.

“Whereas the Ford government cut funding to our schools by $800 per student during the pandemic period, and plans to cut an additional $6 billion to our schools over the next six years;

“Whereas these massive cuts have resulted in larger class sizes, reduced special education and mental health supports and resources for our students, and neglected and unsafe buildings;

“Whereas the Financial Accountability Office reported a $2.1-billion surplus in 2021-22, and surpluses growing to $8.5 billion in 2027-28, demonstrating there is more than enough money to fund a robust public education system;

“We, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to:

“—immediately reverse the cuts to our schools;

“—fix the inadequate education funding formula;

“—provide schools the funding to ensure the supports necessary to address the impacts of the pandemic on our students;

“—make the needed investments to provide smaller class sizes, increased levels of staffing to support our students’ special education, mental health, English language learner and wraparound supports needs, and safe and healthy buildings and classrooms.”

I fully support this petition. I will affix my signature and pass it to page Christopher to take to the table.