Thank you for that question. Our government takes mental health in the province of Ontario very seriously. I’m the first minister appointed to look after mental health and addictions issues in the province. We came up with a Roadmap to Wellness, which is a basic plan, a foundational document that looks after lifespans. It looks after investments required for children and youth, for adults, for seniors, for people with addictions and concurrent disorders. We backed it with a $525-million-a-year plan, $3.8 billion over 10 years. Seeing the crisis, another $90 million in February of last year was invested to create 400 treatment beds, which is the equivalent of 7,000 treatment spots throughout the province of Ontario—not just in southern Ontario, everywhere in the province of Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, the investments continue. When we speak about the investments that have been made with respect to mobile crisis intervention teams, over $40 million has been put in place to create low-barrier access for individuals needing supports. So yes, investment—

Mr. Speaker, once again I reiterate: The province of Ontario, this government, is making substantial, unprecedented investments throughout the province of Ontario to assist anyone in need.

For instance, you mentioned Indigenous communities. Indigenous communities are a focus of the work that we’re doing, providing land-based healing opportunities to allow Indigenous communities to look after the needs of the people in their communities.

In rural and remote communities, we’re investing in mobile health units to allow individuals access to care which they may not otherwise get, given the fact that there are large distances to travel. We continue to make investments and work with all service providers in the province of Ontario to ensure that people are getting the supports they need.

I look back at what we inherited as a government, and I’ve got to call out, once again, what the NDP did: They reduced 13% of the mental health beds. They took away 9,645 hospital beds across the province—

We have an opioid crisis. We’re working to ensure that the supports are in place to assist individuals who want to recover from an addiction.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I can’t help but think of what the implications were when the NDP were in power and they cut $53 million of funding to the psychiatric hospitals—the implications that that had, with the fact that we have a shortage in HHR today directly related back to the fact that places were eliminated—

Focusing on addictions and the concurrent disorders that need to be addressed, the 400 treatment beds that have been opened, the 7,000 treatment spots that have been created—these are all increasing capacity to be able to assist individuals. We’re focused on culturally appropriate and sensitive services, creating low-barrier access to individuals in need, ensuring that the supports are there when and where they need them, if they’re ready for them, to recover. But the harm production provisions that we put in place are also assisting individuals.

Mr. Speaker, we are building a system for the province of Ontario after the neglect of the previous government, supported by the NDP.

The Roadmap to Wellness outlines the vision for children and youth: Early interventions keep kids from harmful behaviours and are a great return on investment. We will continue to build a future for our children, to ensure that they have the mental health supports where and when they need them.

Children and youth have the highest mental health care needs of any age demographic. We know this. This informs every investment we have made and will continue to make. In 2022, we invested another $31 million in new annual funding to reduce wait-lists and support the mental health and well-being of children and youth. We’re innovating on new ways to treat children and youth and new means for them to access care. This means: $3.5 million in the Step-Up Step-Down live-in treatment program, helping move kids through levels of intensive treatment; $2.1 million for virtual walk-in counselling, connecting youth to a clinician by phone, text or video chat; $1 million for children and youth telehealth services; and $4.5 million for One Stop Talk virtual walk-in counselling programs for children and youth.

Mr. Speaker, we’re innovating. We’re working with the sector. We’re ensuring that the kids have the supports they need, where they need them.

And, yes, I have and will continue to meet with all stakeholders to ensure that we understand the needs not just of children and youth in general, but on a region-by-region basis. That has been the way we’ve done our work to date. We’ve attended meetings. We’ve had round tables throughout the province—in Thunder Bay, in Indigenous communities throughout the north, in southern Ontario, and of course with children and youth mental health.

Mr. Speaker, we’re more prepared than any government in Ontario’s history to build an accessible, equitable and accountable mental health system.

Once again, I reiterate that there is the Roadmap to Wellness that specifically looks at the needs of children and youth during the education period, which includes prevention, education and building resiliency, which is extremely important. That is being funded, as the minister stated before: $90 million for school-based supports, annualized.

In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we’re looking at $31 million in new annual funding to reduce wait-lists and supports in the community, which is where the supports are needed for treatment, and $11 million annually so children and youth with eating disorders can heal closer to home, another very important issue that needs to be addressed if we are going to help children and youth.

In addition to that, we’ve invested in beds—

Interjections.

There is a plan. We’re implementing the plan, and we are making a difference in the lives of children and youth throughout the province of Ontario.

Thank you very much for that question. Again, children and youth are extremely important, and providing supports and services to them is a priority for our government. We have made it a priority. Whether it be the investments in the education system, whether it be the investments in community-based treatment, or whether it’s specifically aimed at things like eating disorders and self-harm, investments are being made and we are working to reduce the wait-lists. There has been, as I mentioned before, $11 million invested specifically to deal with eating disorders, so that kids can have the supports they need closest to home. We invested $8.1 million to create seven beds at CHEO, five at SickKids and two at McMaster. So yes, we are listening. We know that there are needs, and McMaster got two beds as well. In addition to that, $130 million since 2019 has been invested as well.

And our youth wellness hubs are providing an incredible resource to kids between the ages of 12 and 24—

When we deal with issues of mental health and addictions, we do look specifically at different regions. To assist in the Niagara region, one of the things we did was open two mobile health units so that the units would be able to provide supports, especially in the rural areas, where it’s difficult for people, because of transportation, to be able to access the services.

Children and youth mental health supports are being placed throughout the province of Ontario, including through our youth wellness hubs. The youth wellness hubs are providing low-barrier supports to individuals. They allow children between the ages of 12 and 24 to be able to attend a place where they can get wraparound supports for everything from primary care to mental health care supports.

We’ve worked with and will continue working with the stakeholders in the Niagara region to provide the supports necessary to assist the children in that region, the way we’re working with all other regions to provide supports.

Again, after neglect over 15 years by the previous government, it’s very difficult to put all of these in place and ensure that they’re all working together. But we are filling gaps. We are working with communities, stakeholders—

I will certainly take you up on that offer and have an opportunity to meet with them and discuss what other needs are there and how we can continue supporting all the regions in the province of Ontario including Niagara.