I’ve got to say something here. Mental health doesn’t just pick out parties—people with mental health isn’t just the NDP, it isn’t the Liberals, it isn’t the Greens; it’s also the Conservatives. And I believe, from the bottom of my heart, that every one of you over there who have chosen not to speak yet have been affected by mental health and what it does to families, what it does to individuals. So I’m saying to you, support this motion. We have to do more. We have to do more for our kids, for our grandkids. Quite frankly, you have to do more for your own colleagues. I want you to understand that.

I’m just going to give you some examples, and I think it’s fair and reasonable to do this. Niagara continues to see a crisis in addictions. In 2022, there were 657 suspected opioid overdoses responded to by an understaffed EMS. Nearly 70%—70%—of those calls were people between 25 and 44, which in a lot of cases would be our kids and our grandkids. Just from January to February of this year, 2023, Niagara had 88 suspected overdoses responded to by the EMS. And, heartbreaking as this is, approximately 11 of them per month are dying.

Most mental health and addiction groups have had their budgets frozen for years, and they’re struggling to keep up.

Wait-lists are growing, food banks are increasing, house and care costs are going through the roof, rent costs are going through the—and this is causing even more increase in mental health.

So I’m going to say one more time, as my time is up, to the Conservatives: Every one of you guys have been touched with mental health. We need more funding. They need more help in every community right across the province of Ontario. And your colleagues need support—just like my colleagues need support, the Liberals need support, the Greens, and the independents. We can do better. We have to do better.

I want to give a shout-out to the compassionate, skilled and exhausted mental health workers from CMHA Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services, who have been working tirelessly on the front lines of the pandemic in the face of an unprecedented mental health crisis that shows no signs of improving.

Here’s the reality in my community, Speaker: since 2020, a 137% increase in children’s mental health crisis calls and a 72% increase in mental health support calls; since 2021, a 171% increase in crisis response team interactions. Many of the 75,000 people who have used the crisis lines or participated in programs are first-time users of mental health services. Many are also former or current clients whose crises are worsening. Almost all are presenting with more complexity than ever before—serious mental illness, addiction, poverty, trauma, and homelessness.

You can imagine the moral distress and vicarious trauma experienced by staff as they watch their clients suffer and even die, despite their best efforts, as they’re forced year after year to do more with less and provide care in a chronically underfunded system. Who can blame them if they decide to move to a hospital or school, where salaries are as much as 33% higher, or leave the sector altogether?

The Thames Valley CMHA is looking at a $3-million shortfall if all vacant positions were filled. Without an increase to their base budget, as we call for in this motion, they face some tough choices: Do they leave 35 positions vacant and put even more pressure on current staff? Do they ignore staff burnout and put their own staff’s mental health at risk? Do they deny or delay service for those in desperate need of mental health support, forcing them to go to the ER to access services?

Speaker, our community needs the vital programs delivered by CMHA.

I call on this government to support our motion today and invest in the 8% base funding increase. Lives are at stake.

Thank you, Speaker. I wasn’t expecting to be up speaking so soon. I thought maybe the Conservatives would want to have something to say on this motion.

I want to applaud my leader, the leader of the NDP official opposition, for bringing this very pertinent and timely motion forward.

We are seeing a drastic and very dramatic increase in the need for mental health supports for people in this province. I don’t think there is one member in this House who could honestly say that they haven’t had constituents reach out to them, telling them that their family is desperate to get their child or another loved one in their family the supports and services they need. They’re terrified, and rightfully so, because we are losing children to suicide in this province at alarming rates. We are losing people in this province to overdoses at alarming rates. And what we are seeing—based on data—is that this Conservative government is not investing the funds and resources into the front-line agencies and workers that actually provide supports and services.

CMHA is asking for an 8% increase to their budget, because their budget has largely been frozen for many years now. What that means is that they can’t get a base funding increase. That means they’re going to lose staff. That means fewer supports in every community around this province. That means more crisis. That means more hospital visits. It means more people being turned back out on the streets because the hospitals cannot support them the way that they want to or should be able to, and that means that more people will die due to inaction by this government.

Speaker, I want to share a story with you—and this is someone I’ve become good friends with. It’s a story that I think many people in this chamber are going to nod their heads at and say, “We’ve heard something similar in our communities.” Frankly, I wish that there were never these stories, ever again. This was from a mom:

“After a few admissions to hospitals for her mental health, our oldest daughter died by suicide at the age of 19. She left behind two younger sisters and a large, close-knit family.

“The health system was not adequately funded or equipped and ultimately failed our daughter. Since then, we have watched another family member struggle and fight to receive mental health services for a loved one.

“Several times, upon arrival at the ER in a suicidal state, this individual has been turned away, or discharged within hours of being admitted to the psychiatric floor because there are no beds available.

“When discharged, the resources provided as an option for follow-up are booked for months in advance. When in a time of crisis, there are no resources available to people experiencing ... mental illness or a mental health crisis. Until our government puts aside bipartisan differences and places the same emphasis and funding for a publicly funded mental health as there currently is on our physical health system, suicide will continue to be an epidemic that plagues our society. After years of talk, isn’t it time for this government to step up and provide adequate funding for mental health services for everyone” in this province?

I want to point out that this family lost their daughter. They waited eight months—eight months. Their small children, their two other daughters, and themselves waited eight months just for intake into the mental health system.

This is not something I talk about personally, usually—my time is running out—but I’m going to do it today. It’s hard to talk about. I lost a brother to an overdose.

Nobody in this province grows up and says, “I want to struggle with mental health.” Nobody in this province says, “I want to struggle with addiction.”

What I can tell you, Speaker, is, if this government doesn’t step up and put more funding into mental health and addictions, more families like mine will lose people they care very, very deeply about.

Do what’s right. Invest in the system.

Further debate? Further debate? The member for Windsor West.

In all of our ridings, we are experiencing a dramatic increase in demand for mental health services.

In Hamilton, despite this state of emergency, we have seen the planned closure of at least two mental health service providers. We’re losing Catholic Family Services of Hamilton, who operated for more than 70 years, and Hamilton Mental Health Outreach, who supported people in Hamilton with severe and persistent mental illness for over 30 years. Both organizations have cited an inability to meet the increase in demand because of underfunding and struggles to recruit staff with frozen wages because of Bill 124.

Hamilton Mental Health Outreach offered important services that will be noticeably missed. One of their services was a street outreach program for people living rough or unhoused on our streets, connecting people in crisis to help.

These services were critical in preventing people from falling through the cracks. We now have fewer places for people to call when they need help or for family members to call for their loved ones. I hear from many people in distress, from desperate parents who don’t know where to turn when they need help. Imagine your loved one or your child during a mental health crisis and you are helpless because you simply do not know where to take them. Emergency rooms are not the answer. Preventing people from falling through the cracks is critical.

In Hamilton, we have just experienced the heartbreaking death of a local icon, Teenage Head guitarist Gord Lewis, and the not-criminally-responsible verdict for his son Jonathan. By all accounts, this was a tragedy that could have been avoided with a system of adequately funded mental health care for individuals and families in crisis. Gord’s family shared with me that Jonathan sought help at 10 emergency wards in the 36 hours before Gord was killed.

This bill is a small step in the right direction. We need an immediate emergency stabilization investment of 8% to begin to address this crisis and prevent any more tragic outcomes, death or suicides.

In closing, I want to acknowledge the many families, like the Lewises, who work as advocates for their relatives and for others in our community.

To the dedicated mental health workers and organizations on the front line: We recognize your tireless work in a system that is letting you down—not just you, but the people and the families you work so hard to protect and to serve.

As my colleague from St. Catharines mentioned, last week the Niagara regional government declared a state of emergency for homelessness, mental health and opioid addiction, in an effort to send a clear message to this provincial government that without significant action, these crises will continue to worsen. I want to thank my constituent Steven Soos, as well as Haley Bateman and Pat Chiocchio, two regional councillors from my riding, for their advocacy, as well as the other regional councillors and mayors who supported the motion to declare an emergency.

Many people in Ontario are struggling and are frequently unable to access treatment when they need it. Niagara continues to be particularly hard hit, with hundreds of people on wait-lists that continue to grow. The wait-list for Niagara Regional Housing is up to 20 years. Statistics provided to local media from Niagara region indicate there are now as many as 277 beds in shelters across Niagara and the need is growing. The 2021 annual point-in-time count identified 660 people in our community facing homelessness—an increase from 2018, and the number has again increased since then. That same year, Niagara EMS reported over 1,000 suspected opioid overdoses.

Pathstone Mental Health, where my wife works, indicates there are over 800 children on the wait-list for treatment, and that list did not exist prior to the pandemic.

Chief Bryan MacCulloch indicates that Niagara Regional Police Service has seen an increase of 238% in calls involving persons in crisis in the last five years.

The Niagara region and local agencies continue to do great work in a system with inadequate funding from this government, but it’s clear that the current situation is untenable.

I’m calling on the province to step up and make a commitment to deliver funding and support for agencies and people dealing with these fundamental issues affecting our community.

Local leaders are sending this government a message: This is an emergency, and Niagara needs more funding now.

I asked the minister this morning whether he would deliver more funding—yes or no—and he droned on about mobile health units that already exist. That’s not an answer. We need more money to front lines now, not deflection and excuses.

Further debate?

It’s an honour to rise today and speak on behalf of the motion brought forward by the Ontario NDP to increase mental health funding in this province by 8%, as asked for by the Canadian Mental Health Association.

I’m going to take a slightly different tack than my colleagues have taken. I want to talk about how this investment could save lives because of gun violence—gun violence is closely linked with mental health.

I want to thank One By One Movement, Communities for Zero Violence, Zero Gun Violence Movement, Keep6ix, Danforth families, and the many, many other organizations in this city and across this province who have been working to reduce gun violence. But today I want to focus on one other organization: Operation Prefrontal Cortex.

Research shows that poverty is the primary cause of gun violence. An OECD study shows that the greater the gap between rich and poor, the higher the level of gun violence.

If you look at a map of the city of Toronto, at the areas where there’s poverty, and you overlay a map of gun violence, they almost exactly intersect.

Operation Prefrontal Cortex was started by Director X a number of years ago after he was shot at a party that he was hosting. He asked himself, “Why did this person bring out a gun at this party where everyone was having a good time?” He did research, and what he found was that violent people have a smaller prefrontal cortex and an overactive amygdala. There’s a solution, though. He found that if you do mindfulness meditation, you can actually increase the size of your prefrontal cortex and reduce the action of your amygdala. This will allow a person to have better emotional regulation and better decision-making and to be less likely to be violent. They’ve done these programs in schools and correctional centres—he wants to move them into the police and into the community. It’s this kind of program that could increase the mental health in communities and that could reduce gun violence.

So I encourage the Conservatives on the other side of the House to support this call to increase mental health funding by 8%.

Of course, it’s always a pleasure to stand in this House, especially when we’re proposing solutions to the government.

This motion actually has a lot of merit. It does value the experience that we’ve all had in our communities.

Certainly, my seatmate in here and I spent January and February listening to front-line health care workers—particularly in mental health, particularly in community care—and they told us about the humiliation they feel with Bill 124. They talked about the emotional labour that they experience because of this wage-suppression legislation and how demoralizing it is for them. So I want to thank them for showing up day after day. But the fact of the matter is, that’s not sustainable.

The motion that our leader has put forward on behalf of the caucus is a short-term-gap solution which will prevent the further bleeding out of workers from this sector.

I also want to talk about the economic reasons to support this motion. In Canada, 500,000 Canadians each week do not go to work because of mental health issues. The economic burden of mental illness in Canada is estimated to be approximately $51 billion—$6.4 billion resulting from lost productivity alone.

I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about Kaitlyn Roth from my community, who called out for help, had the courage to ask for help. That help was never there for her, and we lost her. You can’t quantify the loss of that life. We will never know her potential, because the services were not there. At the end, though, we know that because she was in such distress, she had come into contact with 27 police officers. Four of those police officers were there when she died by suicide, and they are off work.

So there’s a trickle-out effect in our community by not taking action, by not showing leadership.

Speaker, $24 million is literally a drop in the bucket.

I implore this government: Please, do the right thing. Let’s stabilize, let’s support, and let’s work together on this issue.

I rise today in order to speak in favour of the opposition day motion calling on the government to increase the base funding for the Canadian Mental Health Association and community-based mental health providers by 8% as an immediate—and, I would argue, emergency—stabilization fund. This is the least—and I want to emphasize, the least—we can do to address the mental health crisis we’re currently facing. Dramatically increased demand of mental health service providers combined with decades now of flatlined budgets have brought the Canadian Mental Health Association and other community-based mental health providers to the breaking point.

Across Ontario right now, there are 250 CMHA community mental health and addictions jobs that are left unfilled. These are jobs that could be providing the mental health services and support people in our communities need. More than 65% of the resignations over the last two years have been salary-based, as mental health workers feel and are overworked, underpaid and burnt-out.

I’ve talked to Canadian Mental Health Association leaders who have talked about how hard it is to hang on to staff—when there’s a 33% pay gap between what CMHA nurses are paid and others in the health care system. Many CMHA branches have received the exact same funding envelope they’re currently receiving right now over the last 20 years. Think about the inflationary pressures they’ve experienced over that time. No wonder there are so many positions unfilled.

A recent survey of CMHA branches indicates that without an immediate base funding increase, the Canadian Mental Health Association will not have the staff or resources to continue serving the same number of clients.

We simply cannot experience mental health service cuts in the middle of a mental health crisis. And let’s be clear, these service cuts have real-world implications—28,000 young people on a wait-list to access mental health services, with waits that can last as long as two and a half years.

I ran into a young person in downtown Guelph and asked him how he was doing. He said to me, “I’m doing okay today. But it would have been better if six months ago, when I was on suicide watch, somebody had reached out to me. I feel lucky to be alive today. Somebody finally got back to me yesterday, and I have a little bit of hope.”

These are the real-world consequences of underfunding our mental health services: Some 2,800 Ontarians have died from opioid-related causes since 2021, half of Ontarians are saying they’re having trouble accessing mental health supports—and so many young people on such long wait times.

Homelessness, mental health and addictions—the intersectionality of it—is putting tremendous pressure on our health care system, on people’s lives, on our downtown businesses.

I can’t tell you how many business owners in downtown Guelph are stepping up and saying, “We need help to improve the vitality of our downtown.” One tiny business just donated $28,000 to help deal with the mental health crisis that so many people out on the street in front of their store are facing.

We need government to step up.

This is about improving people’s lives, but it’s also about saving money. Every dollar invested in mental health services returns $10 to our provincial economy. A US study found that every dollar invested in mental health services saved $2.47. We also have seen other studies that calculate that if we could reduce depression in our society, it would increase our GDP across Canada by $32 billion. And every $10 invested in permanent supportive housing, with wraparound mental health and addiction supports, saves us $21.72. So we’re talking about—I don’t know—about $150 million here, in what’s in this motion, to have the kinds of economic returns, but more importantly, the returns to improving people’s lives. That’s what we’re talking about today.

In the spirit of non-partisanship, I just want to say that I’ve appreciated every time the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions has come to Guelph and talked about what we need to do to address the mental health crisis. But the bottom line is, those words have to be backed up by funding investments. We’re simply not going to be able to solve the crisis if we don’t put the investments into it.

That’s what this motion is about. That’s why I’ll be voting for it. And that’s why I’m hoping that everyone in this Legislature votes for this motion today.

Further debate?

Further debate?

I want to say thank you to the opposition for bringing this issue forward today in the Ontario Legislature, and obviously take a moment to thank and congratulate the member for Davenport for stepping up and becoming the leader of her party and becoming a mentor to so many women—particularly during this incredibly important week, as we recognize women’s heritage and leadership in this province. So congratulations to Marit Stiles.

Speaker, I have had very few opportunities, as you are well aware, as well as every member here is, to address the people of Nepean. So before I begin my formal remarks—which are not that formal, because I was just told I would be speaking to this—I do want to say thank you to the people of Nepean for electing me six times to this assembly; most recently, in the month of June. I didn’t have an opportunity during that campaign to say thank you to them for their support, their loyalty and their dedication—particularly as I am a member who has been very open and vocal about my mental health challenges.

So to the people of Nepean: For the next three years and a bit, I will continue to work extremely hard for you, to make you proud, and I want to say thank you for the opportunity to sit here in this assembly to be your voice at Queen’s Park.

I would also like to say thank you to our Speaker, who I’ve already started conversations with, along with Camille Quenneville from the Canadian Mental Health Association of Ontario, to see how we can best support members who may be in crisis.

I’ve had the opportunity to speak with many of you from all different parts of the province—but, as importantly, from all different political parties—to hear about some of your own struggles and those of your own family. I know that there are members here who have lost people to suicide; in fact, I know two, and my heart breaks for them. I know that there are members here who are suffering through grief because they have lost a parent. I know some of you may be dealing with anxiety or depression, or, like me, you may actually have something like bipolar disorder, which is a special kind of hell.

I want to say thanks to my mother and my husband and my daughter, because my diagnosis has been difficult on them, particularly over the past eight years. But now that we know what we’re dealing with—and that’s important for a lot of people, to get the appropriate medication and the right type of therapy, which is why I think it’s important today to have this discussion, why I think it’s important that this is before the floor of the Legislature.

Before we start piling on one another—I’ve had the opportunity to see the best in every single one of you over the past eight or nine months. That has not always been the case—I’ve been here for 17 years. I have seen your genuine compassion, your empathy, your support for another. And I would encourage you, when we talk about this issue, not to make my health or anyone else’s health in this province a political football. We all know there’s a provincial budget coming up that’s going to be very important. Mental health has been a clarion call for all of us, regardless of what side of the Legislature we are on; it’s one where we all agree that more resources need to be deployed.

Two weeks ago, my husband lost his best friend to suicide. Just last week, I had another friend who went into a manic episode and was hospitalized. This is very real to me, and just like all of you, I have lived experience. These are not talking points I have; they’re scribbles on my page. This is something I deal with every single week. I couldn’t go to my leader’s dinner last Thursday, because every Friday I have to give blood and make sure my lithium levels are in check when I talk to my psychiatrist at the Ottawa Hospital.

In May, on May 24, which would have been my father’s, I believe, 72nd birthday, I ended up in the Queensway Carleton Hospital in a bed. I didn’t want to live anymore. I didn’t want to win the election. I didn’t want to breathe. And it was through the care of the doctors and nurses at the Queensway Carleton Hospital that I felt safe. They saved my life, and I’m very happy that I was able to be on hand before Christmas to see them expand their mental health facility. And I’ll give credit where it’s due: While that job was finished under this government, it was started by the previous Liberal government.

I’ve had the opportunity to work with other groups, community-based, that are trying to raise awareness, trying to actually allow people that—I don’t know if it’s a word—“navigability,” to navigate the social resources that are in our own communities. I’ll be speaking on Thursday to a group of women about these challenges.

There are so many groups that are cropping up across Ontario that also deserve our support. They are community-based, they’re organic, they’re grassroots, and they’re led by people with lived experience. And sometimes I find that to be the place where I heal most—learning from other people that I’m not alone, that the things I experienced for the eight months that I couldn’t really get out of bed are the same things other people do.

You don’t have to be a cabinet minister, you don’t have to be a teacher, you don’t have to be a young person to experience this; you just have to be human. Oftentimes, we’ll hear that one out of five people have mental health issues—I often say, because I’m bipolar, that’s six out of five. I guess I’m one of the only ones who can make that joke around here. But I have to say, I know that people experience it.

This past summer, when I was laying in my chaise lounge—can somebody bring me a tissue, because I’m going to need one—I took a picture of my friend. I was going through such a period of self—I can’t believe I’m being this open. My family is probably at home calling me right now, saying, “Shut up. You’re over-sharing.” I was laying at home. It was in the summer, and I was having a rough time getting up and being ready to do things. My friend came over, who has since passed away. He was laying there and was asking me about my care. I had no idea he had been in a hospital just before I was, in May. He was a truly brilliant political mind. He was so happy to hear that I was doing better. I was philosophizing—because that’s what we do as politicians, eh? He was sitting there, and my cat jumped on him, and he had the most beautiful glow on his face. He died a couple of weeks ago because he didn’t think he was worth it.

I’ve had this conversation with my friend opposite. When there’s a suicide, sometimes people call for help, but other times they’re suffocating. It’s like a fishbowl on your head, but your head just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and you can’t breathe. That’s really tough, and I know there are people across the province who are dealing with that now.

I don’t want to be political on this, because it’s too important. I think it’s important that we have the conversation, but I don’t think that today, regardless of how the vote goes, we should be yelling at each other. This is an issue where we can come together. This is an issue where we can show great leadership.

I happen to be a very lucky person that I had a boss—like people in Nepean and the Premier of Ontario—who gave me time to heal. I’m happy to report I’m doing quite well. I maybe shouldn’t have come back when I did in October, but I’m really well now.

Interjections.

I rise with great pride to speak on behalf of the people of Toronto Centre.

Last summer, the Big City Mayors’ Caucus asked the Premier for an emergency meeting. They wanted to meet with him to develop an emergency plan to address homelessness, mental health and addictions. The Premier has denied the mayors of the largest cities in Canada that meeting.

To this very day, the Auditor General of Ontario has specified that there is no credible plan and no coordinated strategy in the government’s plan to address homelessness. Why I talk about homelessness is because the Conservative government has also chronically underfunded mental health and addictions services, which are intricately tied to homelessness.

Many of my colleagues have already spoken so eloquently and passionately about the need to increase funding for mental health. They have spoken about it from a human lens, about the human impact. What I’d like to do is to actually share with you the impact from a financial lens.

Speaker, what I wanted to raise with you is that the economic development concerns from my community, which is the largest cultural corridor in the city and the province, as well as the largest financial district in the province—are saying that they need to see this government invest in mental health and addictions services. They have been very clear that if the funding is not there, they will continue to see a decline of the urban core—not just in Toronto Centre, but right across cities across Ontario.

Take, for example, the Downtown Yonge BIA. They have been meeting with government leaders, and at every single meeting they have said that their number one issue is around safety. They want to make sure that their community and visitors to the area—that their perception is that it’s safe, it is clean, it is viable.

We’re already seeing a worsening mental health crisis in Ontario, and largely because of the lack of mental health and addictions support, as well as funding for supportive housing to end chronic homelessness.

Cadillac Fairview, which is one of the largest real estate companies in Canada, recently announced that Nordstrom is leaving. They are closing 13 locations—including 2,500 people who will be laid off. This is going to have a detrimental impact to our neighbourhood. This is going to impact the vitality of our main streets.

Finally, Madam Speaker, the Downtown Yonge BIA has said that, according to their safe-streets strategy, mental health and drug use are both health concerns, and that they require clinical and social interventions. Police enforcement will only result in a revolving-door approach; it is not going to be enough. It is failing, and people need to have their backs—they need to know that this government is willing to invest in them and the mental health supports that they are desperately needing.

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.

Further debate?

Before I start my speech, I would like to thank the member from Windsor West; I’d like to thank the member from Nepean for her sharing—very emotional. It is an emotional topic we’re talking about today. Thank you to the member from Hamilton Mountain, as well.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak to this motion this afternoon. As the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health and to the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, I’m proud to highlight the work we’ve been doing to improve mental health and addiction services across the province.

Ontario is making record investments to improve health care delivery and to connect you faster and more easily and closer to home.

This motion speaks to the Canadian Mental Health Association’s pre-budget submission.

I look forward to our government’s release of Ontario budget 2023, a plan to build a strong future for Ontario, on March 23.

In my riding, the Canadian Mental Health Association York and South Simcoe is an award-winning team that provides excellent services to local residents. These services are funded through Ontario Health; the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services; and the Ministry of Long-Term Care, as well as the Ontario Trillium Foundation. I’d like to thank the entire team for their selfless commitment to the people in our community.

Over the past two months, our government crossed the province to hear from Ontarians through pre-budget consultations. We went to many communities, including Kenora, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, Kingston, and the GTA—Mississauga, Brampton, Durham—London, to seek pre-budget advice on what matters most for the people of Ontario and what Ontarians think are the best ways to move forward.

I was happy to attend the pre-budget session at Old Town Hall in Newmarket, hosted by the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Finance.

Across the province, we heard about the need for more access to health care, and you cannot talk about health care without talking about mental health care.

Every year, more than one million people in Ontario experience a mental health or addictions challenge, which can have serious impact on their quality of life, including the ability to go to school or make a living. The system to support individuals with these challenges has been broken and fragmented for many years. People who badly needed support were waiting far too long to connect to care or having difficulty figuring out how to even begin navigating a complicated, disjointed system to get the help they need. Too often, they were left to struggle on their own.

We are determined to fix long-standing issues in the mental health and addictions care sector once and for all, but we know that doing so will take time. That’s why, three years ago, we launched our comprehensive strategy, Roadmap to Wellness: A Plan to Build Ontario’s Mental Health and Addictions System, to improve mental health services for communities across Ontario and support patients and families living with mental health and addictions challenges. The plan is built on four central pillars: improving quality, expanding existing services, implementing innovative solutions, and improving access. These are designed to work together to support the delivery of the services people need where and when they need them. We launched the Mental Health and Addictions Centre of Excellence within Ontario Health to guide our work. To ensure the plan’s success, we are investing $3.8 billion over 10 years to develop and implement a comprehensive and connected mental health and addictions system for Ontario. Since launching the plan, we have already invested more than $500 million annually to help mental health and addiction services expand access to care and reduce wait times.

We have also launched innovative new programs, including the Ontario Structured Psychotherapy Program, to provide more Ontarians support for anxiety and depression with cognitive behaviour therapy, new eating disorders prevention, and early intervention programming.

Madame la Présidente, chaque année, plus d’un million de personnes en Ontario présentent un problème de santé mentale ou de dépendances, ce qui peut avoir de graves répercussions sur leur qualité de vie, y compris leur capacité d’aller à l’école ou de gagner leur vie.

Le système pour soutenir les particuliers présentant de tels enjeux ne fonctionnait plus et était fragmenté depuis plusieurs années. Les personnes qui avaient grandement besoin d’aide attendaient beaucoup trop longtemps pour être aiguillées vers des soins ou avaient de la difficulté à comprendre comment commencer à s’orienter dans un système compliqué et décentralisé pour obtenir de l’aide. Elles étaient trop souvent laissées à elles-mêmes pour lutter contre leurs problèmes.

Nous sommes déterminés à régler une fois pour toutes les problèmes de longue date du secteur des soins en matière de santé mentale et de lutte contre les dépendances. Parvenir à cela prendra du temps.

Il y a trois ans, nous avons lancé notre stratégie exhaustive—Vers le mieux-être : un plan pour bâtir le système ontarien de santé mentale et de lutte contre les dépendances—pour améliorer les services de santé mentale pour les collectivités ontariennes et pour appuyer les patients et les familles qui vivent avec des problèmes de santé mentale ou de dépendance.

Le plan est construit sur quatre piliers centraux—amélioration de la qualité, développement des services existants, mise en oeuvre de solutions innovantes et amélioration de l’accessibilité—qui sont conçus pour travailler ensemble afin de soutenir la prestation des services dont la population a besoin, où et quand ce besoin se fait sentir. Nous avons inauguré le Centre d’excellence pour la santé mentale et la lutte contre les dépendances qui relève de Santé Ontario pour guider notre travail.

Afin d’assurer la réussite du plan, nous investissons 3,8 milliards de dollars sur 10 ans afin de développer et de déployer un système exhaustif et interconnecté en matière de santé mentale et de lutte contre les dépendances pour la population ontarienne. Depuis le lancement de ce plan, nous avons déjà investi plus de 500 millions de dollars annuellement pour aider les services de santé mentale et de lutte contre les dépendances à élargir l’accès aux soins et réduire les temps d’attente.

Nous avons par ailleurs lancé de nouveaux programmes innovateurs, notamment le Programme ontarien de psychothérapie structurée pour offrir à la population ontarienne du soutien pour l’anxiété et la dépression avec la thérapie cognitivo-comportementale, ainsi qu’un nouveau programme de prévention et d’intervention précoce en matière de troubles de l’alimentation.

Speaker, our government knows that when someone reaches out for help, they shouldn’t have to wait. That’s why we are opening new beds to care for children and youth with complex mental health needs.

We are investing $10.5 million to address gaps in care and improve access while decreasing existing wait-lists and extensive wait times. Through this investment, we are expanding the child and youth mental health Secure Treatment Program and adding up to 24 new beds to serve vulnerable children and youth. This program provides intensive care for children and youth experiencing acute and complex mental health challenges that may put them at risk of self-harm or harm to others.

Additionally, an investment of $3.5 million for two new Step Up Step Down live-in treatment programs will connect more youth to care in communities in western and northern regions of the province. We will add up to 16 new beds to meet the needs of youth who don’t require the highly intensive care provided at a hospital or secure treatment setting but who need more support than a community-based, live-in treatment program is designed for. Expanding this program will connect more youth to less intensive services in their communities and eventually help them return to their homes.

I am so thankful to the entire team at Southlake Regional Health Centre for the extraordinary care they provide to my constituents of Newmarket–Aurora, for the patients and the families in northern York region, southern Simcoe county, and surrounding communities. Our local health care workers make a significant difference in people’s lives each and every day. I thank them for all they do to protect our health and our well-being.

On February 13, I had the honour of welcoming the Minister of Health to my riding to celebrate the grand opening of the new adult in-patient mental health unit at Southlake. This is a prime example of how our government is expanding health care services closer to home. The Ministry of Health is a tremendous supporter of our hospitals and the important role of local health care. We are focused on providing patients and families with more connected and convenient care, and this new adult in-patient unit provides exactly that to my region of northern York. With our investment of more than $6.5 million, 12 new mental health beds and support spaces have been added, for a total capacity of 28 beds. With this expansion, Southlake will be able to provide care for more than 400 additional patients each year. The newly renovated space includes private rooms, more windows with natural light, and common areas to support patient recovery. These improvements will ensure that individuals who need emergency mental health support receive the care they need in a safe, modern and comfortable environment. From the time we announced the funding for these additional in-patient adult beds, Southlake completed the renovations within two years.

Thank you to the Southlake team for everything you do to support our communities and for helping some of our most vulnerable residents on their journey to wellness.

Another organization in my riding, CMHA York and South Simcoe—in early January, I had the opportunity to visit their Aurora office, alongside the Associate Minister of Housing, to announce that CMHA York and South Simcoe was the recipient of an Ontario Trillium Foundation Resilient Communities Fund grant. A total of $104,000 was granted over a 12-month period that started on March 24, 2022. Since receiving this grant, it has assisted CMHA to rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19 by hiring a mental health educator last year to expand the CMHA college course curriculum and also to train staff on virtual and in-person mental health education programming. The grant was also instrumental to the translation of materials to support outreach and inclusivity, development of a learning management system enabling clients to create individual learning portals, and technology enhancements to better facilitate synchronized and asynchronized learning. All courses at the CMHA College of Health and Well-Being are designed to inspire hope, support learning and provide new opportunities for growth and connection. It was wonderful to listen to a very young lady—my words, “a very young lady”—speak about the program, as she found herself in crisis. Through the guidance of the staff and this course, she was able to learn at a pace convenient to her schedule, while allowing her to speak with a counsellor. This is the successful outcome we are all striving for—for our young people to have convenient and connected care where and when they need it.

It is not-for-profit community-based organizations like CMHA of York region that strengthen our community by providing support to young adults with the resources required to improve one’s mental health and strengthen one’s emotional resilience. To quote the CEO of CMHA-YRSS, “We are incredibly grateful for the government’s generous grant that is enabling our CMHA college to bolster mental health and recovery support to marginalized clients in our community.”

Ensuring that individuals in our community have access to the support and resources they require has been and always will be a top priority for me. As the MPP for Newmarket–Aurora and the parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Health, I am committed to supporting the mental health and well-being of all our community members.

I am proud of our government’s investment in the Ontario Trillium Foundation’s Resilient Communities Fund grant as it supports agencies in our community to focus on their work and strengthen their programs for all our residents.

At the end of April 2022, the government announced an investment of over $1 million in Newmarket–Aurora non-profits to help them offset the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic—the goal being to ensure that they can deliver the critical services needed by their local clients and to create stronger communities.

I was thrilled to hear that one of these grants through the Resilient Communities Fund grant program from the Ontario Trillium Foundation would be supporting NACCA, the Newmarket African Caribbean Canadian Association. NACCA was granted $49,600 over six months. These funds helped build an online virtual mental wellness support platform program for Black marginalized and under-represented youth ages 12 to 25. The seamless entry program helps to support strategies for those experiencing ongoing anti-Black racism that has had a tremendous impact on their well-being. Delivered with an Afrocentric focus, the program enables Black youth to experience a greater awareness of themselves, their mental wellness and community of peers. It is intended to be delivered in a partial virtual environment at the NACCA Black-led community centre in Newmarket and at various on-site community-based projects.

To quote the chair of NACCA, Jerisha Grant-Hall, “Youth are a foundational part and important beneficiaries of our programs and services and will continue to be a big focus for NACCA. This grant sets in motion the start of a mental health literacy, advocacy and healing support network for Black youth that is so needed.”

Speaker, we’re also expanding access to primary care to make it easier and faster for individuals of all ages to connect to mental health and addictions through community health centres, family health teams and walk-in clinics.

Ontario health teams also bring together health care providers from across health and community sectors, including primary care, hospitals, home and community care, mental health and addictions services, and long-term care, as one collaborative team to better coordinate care and share resources. Working together, they ensure that you can move between health care providers more easily with one patient record and one care plan that follows you wherever you go for help.

Ontario health teams are responsible for delivering care for their patients, understanding their health care history, easing their transition from one provider to another, directly connecting them to different types of care, and providing 24/7 help in navigating the health care system.

Across the province, 54 Ontario health teams are working to improve transitions between health care providers and are ensuring a patient’s medical record follows them wherever they go for care.

Applications for four additional Ontario health teams are currently being reviewed. Once approved, these remaining teams will result in the province achieving its goal of full provincial coverage, ensuring everyone has the support of an Ontario health team.

With an investment of more than $106 million, Ontario health teams are also investing in digital and virtual care options so you can easily connect with a mental health care worker when you need to from the comfort of your home.

To support health human resources to provide these services, last fall we began our work to develop an Integrated Capacity and Health Human Resources Plan for Ontario. We are analyzing current gaps in our system, anticipating needs over the next 10 years, and determining solutions to address growing health care demands. The plan will focus on how to meet this demand through investments, health human resources and innovative solutions. This year, we are building on this work and shifting our focus to working directly with leaders in our health care system on a workforce plan that includes where to prioritize current and future resources, addressing and minimizing system gaps, and building a strong health system for the long term. We will also look at specific strategies for increasing the number of health care professionals, starting with physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered practical nurses and medical laboratory technologists. We’ll also look at the retention of our health workforce through incentives, leveraging programs like the Learn and Stay program. We will ensure we have a greater understanding of each community and their needs, and that we have a plan to recruit and retain the health care workers needed, including family doctors, nurses, specialists and other health providers. We will prioritize areas most in need, like rural and remote communities, where gaps already exist. This plan will incorporate our lessons learned from COVID-19 and ensure we are prepared and equipped to meet the health care needs of Ontarians for years to come.

Finally, I’d like to remind this House that our government is making historic investments of more than $75 billion annually in health and long-term care this year.

I look forward to budget day 2023, my first budget day as the MPP for Newmarket–Aurora, on March 23, to share more details on how we will continue to build a strong province and invest in the things that matter most to Ontarians, like health care and mental health and addictions services, for years to come.

Thank you. Don’t you guys go ruining it on me, okay?

I’m sorry to have been so emotional; I was really only just here to say a few words. But we’re in an unprecedented crisis. Never before in the history of the province, the country and probably the world have we been dealing with such high levels of mental illness, and I think the pandemic made it much more difficult. I think that the polarization of society, not just on the floor or in the House of Commons or in the United States—we see it. For some reason, we’ve forgotten to be a bit more kind and compassionate to one another.

I think we look at buckets of money and think it’s going to fix things, when it won’t. I think that when someone has lost their resilience—too many times I’ve had to count in the last little while, I’ve watched people break them down even further instead of saying, “Okay, maybe it’s time to give them a breather.”

I just want to thank all of you and find a graceful way to conclude this speech. It has been a journey—and whether you guys like it or not, you’re part of mine. I’m grateful that you’re part of it with me, and I’m grateful that you’re all having this conversation. Hopefully, for the remainder of this debate, just take a second and break from your notes—whatever your staff wrote you, or the leader’s office—and just sit there and just think that the people that we’re talking about are real. It’s not uncommon, and it’s absolutely okay to be open about your health and not apologize for it.

With that, I’m going to wrap it up before I start crying again, and I’m going to get my daily Toronto update from Minister Ford.

Further debate?