My question is for the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. Just last week, one of my constituents from Sarnia–Lambton shared the heartbreak that their family experienced. Their 15-year-old son is no longer able to focus or get out of bed to attend school because of an ongoing mental health challenge he is facing. Anxiety Canada estimates that about 25% of youth will engage in school-refusal behaviour during their schooling years. This behaviour, also known as school avoidance, is related to mental health issues and is not the same as truancy.

All children in our province need accessible and reliable services in order to grow and develop into healthy adults. What is this government doing to improve the mental health of the children and youth of our province?

In Sarnia–Lambton, as the minister said, we are looking forward to the opening of a youth wellness hub, where my granddaughter Janessa has played a major and pivotal role in its design. I look forward to the minister coming down. We’re confident that it will provide much-needed support for children and young people in our community.

Children and youth have a wide variety of needs, depending on their individual circumstances, and some rural and remote areas of our province may not have a youth wellness hub. Children and youth, no matter where they live in our province, deserve access to services and programs that will support their health and well-being.

Speaker, can the associate minister please explain what our government is doing to meet the diverse needs of young people across Ontario?