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.

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?

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—