I appreciate the comments from the member from London West.

Last week, we held a press conference in front of Queen’s Park here with a number of agencies and organizations that work to bring an end to gun violence. Their message was very clear: that the police alone cannot bring an end to gun violence; that we need to address the social determinants of safety, the social determinants of gun violence, which start with poverty and this growing gap between rich and poor. And yet, this government and the actions they are taking—particularly recently, the privatization of health care, where people are now being charged for their health services—is going to grow that gap between rich and poor.

What would you say to the government, to those agencies that fight against gun violence? If they really want to make our communities safe, what would be the approach they should be taking?

Thank you to the member from Essex for his comments.

I wanted to ask generally, what kind of impact does the member feel this bill will have on the training of front-line police officers, especially as it relates to dealing with the increasing number of calls around mental health issues?

That’s a good question.

This government has continued to support various programs that assist police officers when they are called to a situation where some kind of mental health issue might be identified.

This particular law opens up the doors of the police colleges to people who might not necessarily have a college diploma or a university diploma—or they might have a college diploma or a university diploma, and that’s a good thing too.

But it’s really the programs offered by this government which assist those types of calls which the member was referring to. Those calls are identified through the police call centres, where they usually identify a person who might be in mental health distress, and a police officer is sent. From time to time, that call centre might also identify another person who might be sent to that situation to help out.

The specific provisions which he referred to are related to the Small Claims Court and the Superior Court. A Small Claims Court action is an action which involves $35,000 or less. However, there are some litigants who, notwithstanding that rule, will bring their litigation to the Superior Court for whatever motive—sometimes they are good motives, but sometimes they are not proper.

What this law provides is that when you have a claim of $35,000 or less and you seek to bring it to the Superior Court, you must first seek permission or leave from the Superior Court to do that. That should keep those claims that don’t belong there out of the Superior Court.

Now we’re debating this bill this week, and it seems to me that the NDP are once again turning on a dime.

I share the concerns of the member that we need to make sure that police are properly funded, notwithstanding the very negative and sometimes disheartening criticism that is levelled at our police. We need to stand up for them, make sure that they’re properly funded, and praise them for the job they’re doing.

To the member from Essex: Recently, I was speaking with the chief of police in Hamilton, and he was commenting on how difficult it was to attract new recruits to policing. I spoke with young recruits about why they entered the force, and they said it’s very challenging when they hear comments, as we’ve heard and read, by people—for example, the member from Hamilton Centre, who tweeted some very disparaging remarks about police officers. We know that previous members of the NDP also made some very disparaging comments about police.

We also know, from a recent article in the Hamilton Spectator, that a heightened police presence actually impacts the level of crime. We saw the drop in break-and-enters in Hamilton, right across the city, because of a heightened police presence.

Can the member speak to why it’s important to reach out and provide opportunities to people who may be considering policing? They’re not always getting the support in communities—and we’ve seen that by members of the NDP.

Speaker, the member for Essex made his presentation on this bill. In response to a question from my colleague from Niagara, he talked about potential alternate responses to calls coming into the police for people experiencing mental health distress. I would appreciate if he could tell us what responses provided for in this bill will be made available to those in mental health distress.

Well, I can say two things about mental health. First is that this government has made a multi-million dollar commitment to assist police officers who are experiencing mental health issues, and, I believe, if I’ve not misspoken, that investment was approximately $12 million in a treatment centre which is well-known among police officers in the province of Ontario. They need and deserve our support when they experience mental health issues.

Secondly, on the topic of mental health, when a call comes into the call centre, the dispatch centre, and the dispatch officer on the phone is made aware that there might be a mental health issue that is perhaps presenting itself in a certain emergency situation, that dispatch officer does have the resources and the authority to call in other services who can attend along with the officer if that is deemed to be a safe thing to do.