It is always my pleasure to welcome the autism families who are here from across the province and who are watching at home. Thank you for the press conference this morning and for hosting breakfast. This is your House. Hopefully, they’re listening.

My question is for the Premier. On average, four children a week end up in a Hamilton emergency room for self-harm. There has been a significant uptake of children engaging in self-harming behaviours, yet the wait-list for treatment continues to grow. The health and well-being of our children is critical, but they are not getting the help they need.

I wrote to the minister back in January about this issue and I have yet to receive a response, so I’m asking once again: Will this government support our children and commit to investing in Hamilton’s youth mental health programming and to build human resource capacity?

The bill amends the Missing Persons Act, 2018, with respect to vulnerable persons alerts. A vulnerable persons alert can be issued to facilitate a search for a missing person who, because of their age, a disability or other circumstances, whether temporary or permanent, is in a position of dependency on others or is otherwise at a greater risk than the general population of being harmed by a person in a position of trust or authority towards them. The Ontario Provincial Police has the authority to issue a vulnerable persons alert in accordance with a request made by an officer if it also has the authority to issue an alert known as an Amber Alert.

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak today. I really didn’t expect it to be in this fashion, but after following the member opposite, I have to congratulate her on her openness. Mental health isn’t easy to talk about. Many of our families face it and many people in our communities face it each and every single day. It takes bravery, but it’s that bravery that will allow us to continue the conversations that will break down the stigma people face that we see furthers their suffering, quite frankly.

Mental health has definitely hit my family. As you know, my son-in-law died by suicide in October. I have had two family deaths since that time, one being just last night. We never know from one day to the next what’s happening and who is feeling what.

Making sure that there is a safe space to talk about mental health, regardless of where you are in this province, should be a thing that we all strive to do better.

In saying that, we know that our organizations are struggling. They are underfunded. This isn’t something that is made up on the back of a napkin. This isn’t a political ploy—this is people just like the member opposite, just like my family, just like many of our families who are begging for help. The people are on the streets. They’re on the corners. They’re homeless. There is drug addiction. There are children in our emergency rooms with self-harm—overdose, suicide. This is a true human crisis that we’re seeing in our communities.

A measly 8%—$24 million—to change the lives of families in our province is something that we all should be able to benefit from. It’s something that we all need to be able to have access to.

I’m grateful to my leader for bringing forward this motion today. I know there are lots of comments still coming from this side of the House. Many comments are based on actual facts, they’re based on real-life families—and they’re based on the institutions in our communities that provide them.

I appreciate the opportunity. I’m out of time.