I would like to welcome Peter McCallion, the son of Hazel McCallion. He was here today. Thank you for joining us today for my member’s statement about Hurricane Hazel.

I would like to welcome the son of late former mayor Hazel McCallion, Peter McCallion, to Queen’s Park. Welcome. Your mother was a champion. Thank you.

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.

Thank you very much.

Supplementary question?

The final supplementary?

The Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.

My question is for the Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development.

In every community, paramedics are on the front lines each and every day, saving lives. These everyday heroes work tirelessly to bring us medical care when we need it the most. Paramedics, along with ambulance communication officers, regularly encounter risk and traumatic events that can impact their health and safety. Under the previous Liberal government that was propped up by the NDP, there was no advocacy, no action on behalf of these essential emergency workers to address their industry-specific risks. They had years to act; instead, they chose to ignore the needs of our front-line workers.

Speaker, can the minister please explain how our government is protecting the health and safety of these workers?

The minister talks about the Roadmap to Wellness. It’s a road map to nowhere right now, I’ll tell you. We are in a mental health crisis in every community in this province, but in Indigenous, northern and rural communities, the government is not even trying to pretend; they’re just failing, miserably. We’ve got epidemic rates of suicide, homelessness, addiction.

The Canadian Mental Health Association shows skyrocketing demand for their services, but in Algoma they’re only getting a 2% increase in base funding over the past 10 years—2%. In Kenora, they got just 2% over the last 22 years. They need an 8% emergency stabilization investment today.

My question, again to the Premier—you’re sitting on $6.4 billion, unspent—will he support our motion this afternoon to provide that 8% emergency funding?

Mental health care is life-changing. It’s also a cost savings. It frees up hospital beds. You have less 911 calls, and do you know what? It saves lives. That’s why today we are going to go all out on this issue: because people in Ontario cannot wait any longer, and I’m sure there’s not one of us in this entire room that hasn’t seen the impact on our families and in our communities. So let’s do it: 8% emergency stabilization investment into CMHA. That’s $24 million.

My question to the Premier today: Premier, please, will you take just half a per cent of that $6.4 billion that has been squirrelled away unspent, to help people get the mental health care they so desperately need today?

What a shameful answer from the minister. People in this province are dying because they cannot access the mental health supports they need, and that’s the kind of answer you give?

My question is to the Premier. Ontario is facing a mental health crisis. More Ontarians are seeking mental health supports and demand for services has significantly increased under this Conservative government. Across Ontario, people are experiencing anxiety, depression and burnout at higher rates, yet base funding for the Canadian Mental Health Association has fallen significantly behind the rate of inflation. The Mental Health Strategy for Canada recommends raising mental health funding to approximately $5.1 billion in Ontario alone.

Speaker, will the Premier commit to treating mental health care as health care and provide the desperately needed funding for mental health supports?

Children can’t wait. They need access to services immediately. Speaker, will the Premier commit today to capping wait times for mental health care for children and youth?

In Ontario, there are over 28,000 children and youth waiting for community mental health care, with wait times as long as two and a half years. Cutting wait times to 30 days will ensure timely access to care. It will help prevent needs from worsening and the wait-list for more acute services from growing. Providing early intervention programs will also cost the province less and reduce the burden on our health care system.

I’ve tabled a bill to cap wait times for children and youth mental health to 30 days. Speaker, kids can’t wait. My question to the Premier: Will you pass it?

Our government was pleased to address this long-outstanding request, as our government recognizes and supports the important work of this sector in our health care system. This announcement demonstrates that our government listened to unions, including Unifor, CUPE, SEIU and OPSEU, representing front-line paramedics and ambulance communication officers, as well as the strong advocacy from paramedic chiefs and the Ontario Association of Paramedic Chiefs, which represents every paramedic service across our province.

This committee is a great opportunity for paramedics, ambulance communication officers and paramedic chiefs to make important recommendations and provide practical guidance for employers and workers. The creation of this committee is a vital investment in the physical, emotional and psychological well-being of our paramedics and ambulance communication officers.

Our government, Mr. Speaker, is working for workers and building a stronger Ontario that leaves no one behind.

And the supplementary question.

Thank you to the minister for the response. It is clear that workers in this sector are valued by our government and our priority is to advocate for the support, protection, and safety that they deserve. The risks that paramedics and ambulance communication officers face are separate and distinct from other health care worker professionals as they interact with patients in unpredictable and complex situations. Under the leadership of the Premier, Minister of Health and this minister, actions such as this announcement demonstrate our government’s commitment to foster safe workplaces.

Speaker, can the minister please elaborate about how the new paramedic services section 21 committee will improve safety for this sector?

Thank you to the member for the question and his outstanding work on behalf of the residents of Whitby.

Speaker, I’m really happy to let that member know that Metrolinx will be announcing the successful construction manager of the transformational Bowmanville GO extension later this spring. This successful manager will be chosen from the four candidates that were short-listed by Metrolinx following a very promising proposal window that was closed last October. This is a major step that our government is taking in delivering that game-changing commuting service for GO Transit, for the people of Durham, with two-way, all-day rail service to Bowmanville. In fact, our 20-kilometre extension of the Lakeshore East line will make it easier for people to connect to local transit, work, health care, education and other critical services across Durham region.

Speaker, while the opposition widened the transit gap for decades, this government is getting it done for the great people of Durham.

As next steps, Metrolinx will continue to work to advance infrastructure and service planning while engaging with Durham region to make sure that we can deliver this vital project. Speaker, this is going to be a game-changer for the people of Durham region.

The Bowmanville GO extension means that commuters will be able to take a train every 30 minutes and go back and forth to Union station, Bowmanville GO and everything in between. What’s more, the riders will save 15 minutes in their commutes along the corridor, so they can more easily get to work, appointments, wherever it is that they need to go.

It’s clear that the NDP, when they propped up the Liberals for decades, did nothing to build transit. This is the only government getting it done for the people of Durham and for commuters in Ontario.

My question is to the Associate Minister of Transportation. Many people in Whitby, Ajax, Bowmanville and Pickering want to be more connected to the greater Toronto area. Under the previous Liberal government, supported by the NDP, the people of Whitby and other parts of Durham region were promised year after year that new transit investments would be made, but nothing ever materialized. They’re tired of waiting. They expect our government to take action and deliver on extending much-needed transit infrastructure for the people of the region of Durham.

Can the associate minister please update the House on the progress of the Bowmanville GO expansion project?

With the population of the greater Toronto area expected to increase significantly over the coming years, investments in transit expansion are needed now to ensure frequent and convenient service for the years to come. We can’t afford to delay or hold back transit investments. Now is the time to build. Now is the time to get Ontario moving.

Can the associate minister please elaborate on our government’s actions to deliver transit for the hard-working people of the region of Durham?

My question is to the minister of health and addictions. In Niagara, we know what is at risk if we do not cap wait times for children that need mental health services. This is because we have nearly 900 children on a wait-list for mental health services with Pathstone, a core mental health service provider in Niagara.

Last week, we heard from teachers ringing the alarm bells about children’s mental health.

However, this problem deserves a comprehensive response, because most of Pathstone’s referrals come in the summer when the schools are closed.

Minister, will your office consult with the experts in the field today, create a cap for wait times, and ensure these core service organizations get the funding they need in the upcoming budget?

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.

Anti-Black racism wreaks havoc on the souls of Black people—400 years and counting. Health care workers, among others, have long called for this government to recognize anti-Black racism as a public health emergency detrimental to our physical and mental health. RNAO’s Black Nurses Task Force study surveyed 205 Black nurses and nursing students across Ontario and found 88% had reported experiencing anti-Black racism and discrimination at work.

My question is to the Premier: Will you join several cities across the province and take a solid step towards recognizing the impact of anti-Black racism on Black Ontarians by declaring today, the first Monday in March, annually as Black Mental Health Day?

For far too many Black children and adults, walking while Black, shopping while Black, driving while Black, learning while Black or having a mental health crisis while Black means experiencing racial profiling, harassment, discrimination, disproportionate use of force and sometimes, sadly, death by law enforcement. Both the target—if they survive—and their families and the larger communities are left fraught with confusion, fear, anxiety and depression. Anti-Black racism is a structural and social determinant of physical and mental health.

Premier, can you share with us what your government is doing, along with your 2023 budget allocation, to specifically address Black mental health in Ontario—specifically, Black mental health in Ontario?

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.

It’s an honour to rise and present my question on behalf of the people of Scarborough–Guildwood, as I’ve done for the better part of a decade.

My question is to the Premier. We know that the pandemic has been challenging for all Ontarians, and we know that this is especially true when it comes to our children. For years, our teachers have been having to deal not only with the important job of educating our children, but also juggling COVID protocols and outbreaks, including many months of online learning.

What is also well known is that the pandemic disruption in our schools resulted in learning gaps for our children and reports of burnout among under-supported teachers and education workers. And now, the FAO is reporting that the government underspent our education budget by $844 million—this, while school boards are having to consider a return to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

Speaker, why is this government taking money away from school boards at a time when our students’ needs are at an all-time high?

Just last week, People for Education reported—they actually sounded the alarm. It shouldn’t be a silent alarm. Every member of this House should hear it—95% of schools report needing some or more support for students’ mental health and well-being; only 9% of schools are having regularly scheduled access to mental health and addiction specialists or a nurse; and 46% of schools are reporting having no access at all.

Speaker, can the minister explain how they can say that they have a plan for mental health and well-being, giving only $45 per student for mental health? Why is this government holding back at a time when our students—

Look, I can tell the member this: There are avenues and opportunities for members to bring important pieces of legislation forward, through the private members’ bill process. I know the member has had at least one bill passed in the previous Parliament. It sounds like an interesting initiative, one that we certainly would be very supportive of if she would consider—

Interjection.

I would assume that the member would appreciate bringing forward a private member’s bill that the entire House could consider.

As you know, Mr. Speaker, this government has passed more private members’ bills than almost any other government in its entirety, and we use House time to debate and pass those bills. The member opposite would know this, because that member also had a private member’s bill pass, as did the member’s seatmate and as did a number of members sitting on that side. So I’d be very happy as House leader to consider that in the process of private members’ business.