Good morning. It’s a beautiful day, everyone.

In the heart of Crescent Town resides Health Access Taylor-Massey, a health care centre oriented around community and social services. It’s actually an amazing health care model for all of Ontario. They are a crucial part of the East Toronto Health Partners, who are responsible for providing quality care and resources to the 300,000 people living in east Toronto communities, including my riding of beautiful Beaches–East York.

Health Access Taylor-Massey has helped 75,000 clients in an underserved community, addressing health inequities that have only become more prevalent with the COVID-19 pandemic. Their extraordinary services include family doctor appointments, vaccines, prenatal care, pap tests, cancer test referrals and COVID testing and treatment.

The strain on our health care system is evident with each passing day, with inconsistent wait times and long backlogs for medical services. Our health care system needs some more support to keep up the quality care provided for Ontarians. Neighbourhood-based care models like Health Access Taylor-Massey help alleviate the burden for hospitals. This centre was developed with the dedication and hard work of many of our East Toronto Health Partners, including our ever-energetic Stephen Beckwith, and the input from the Taylor-Massey Residents Wellness Council, where community members were given the opportunity to share their opinions to have a say in the building process, led from the ground up.

We must strive toward accessible health care that prioritizes specific needs, making it easier for residents to find specific care in one place closer to home. I regularly hear from many happy residents who utilize the valuable services of Health Access Taylor-Massey. Thank you to the staff for keeping it running, and keep up the great work. Let’s roll that model out right across Ontario.

Our government continues to invest in our health care system. Recently, I was happy to announce much-needed health care investments in my riding of Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. The City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team will receive funding to support residents by adding two new nurse practitioners to enhance, support and deliver high-quality primary health care in Kawartha Lakes. I would like to take the opportunity to thank the team at the City of Kawartha Lakes Family Health Team for their tireless work in taking care of our community.

In addition, over $1 million in funding support will add two new mobile wellness clinics. The Canadian Mental Health Association Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge will run these two mobile wellness clinics and they’ll be able to service on-the-go health care to our rural communities that need them most. These communities in my riding will now have greater access to counselling and therapy, addictions support and substance use, mental health education, medical support and access to other psychiatry services. I know, Mr. Speaker, in parts of Haliburton county they’ve already had over 80 visits that have taken place. It’s a great success.

But this initiative underlines the government’s commitment toward promoting high-quality health care for the people in Ontario. I want to thank the Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions for listening and addressing the concerns in Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock. I know it’s just one step forward.

We know that the economic effects of the pandemic are still affecting people, and we must get people out of poverty now more than ever. That’s why we have numerous parts—and we’re working across ministries, across governments, across layers of government to make life better for people.

With the impacts of COVID-19 still having an effect, we’ve launched the micro-credential strategy. We’re improving mental health with the Roadmap to Wellness: $3.8 billion over 10 years for mental health supports. We’ve committed $1 billion to build thousands of new child care spaces. We launched $1.2 billion last year for the Ontario Child Benefit. We’re investing $90 million to provide dental care to low-income seniors. We’ve got the CARE tax credit, which will provide about 300,000 families with up to 75% of their eligible child care expenses. We’ve got the low-income individuals and families tax credit, the Ontario Jobs Training Tax Credit, the Ontario Energy and Property Tax Credit.

We’ve got the minimum wage increase. We’ve raised ODSP rates. I could go on—