Thank you to the members from Richmond Hill and Perth–Wellington for their comments.

A question about children’s mental health: There has been mental health counselling made available in schools, but the problem in my community and in other communities across Ontario is that it’s not connected to children’s mental health agencies. The mental health workers in schools are unsupervised, largely, and at the end of the school year, when the school year wraps up, the children who are receiving help have to be released back into the children’s mental health agency, so there is not a continuity there.

Why did the government not consult with local children’s mental health agencies to make sure that help was being provided efficiently?

My question is to the Premier. In Niagara, I met with unionized front-line workers from long-term-care homes who are concerned about the use of agency employees and the effects on the quality of care for residents. Permanent employees in long-term care are not paid fair wages for their work, which often leads to them leaving the jobs they love, worsening the staffing crisis. Meanwhile, temporary employment agencies are charging $150 an hour or more, and Ontarians are footing the bill.

Will the Premier rein in temporary staffing agencies and ensure permanent employees are paid fairly to address the staffing crisis?

Many of the temporary agency workers have no training or experience in long-term care. This is leading to reduced quality of care for residents and potential concerns around the safety and well-being of the people in our long-term-care facilities. These are our mothers, our fathers, our grandparents, our aunts and our uncles. It’s all about respect and dignity for long-term-care residents and for the permanent employees in these homes.

When is the Premier going to ensure fair standards are in place at every long-term-care home across the province of Ontario for workers and their patients?