First, I’d like to congratulate my good friend the member from Willowdale on becoming the Minister of Long-Term Care—and now I’m going to grill him with a question.

In June, I was privileged to have the Minister of Long-Term Care come to my community of Peterborough to announce the construction of 416 new long-term-care beds at the Marianhill Nursing Home and Extendicare in Peterborough. These critical investments by our government are positive and are welcomed by the people of both Peterborough and Pembroke, but there’s still more that needs to be done to increase capacity in long-term care to help support Ontario’s seniors. That’s why it’s so important that our government continues with our plan to invest in the infrastructure that’s needed to care for our seniors.

Speaker, can the Minister of Long-Term Care please explain how our government is increasing the number of long-term-care homes across Ontario?

However, rising interest rates and construction costs are making it more expensive to finance crucial infrastructure projects. With pressing needs in communities across our province, it’s positive that our government introduced an additional top-up to the construction funding subsidy to support the costs of developing or redeveloping long-term-care homes.

Speaker, can the minister please provide an update on the benefits of this funding strategy in supporting solutions that will meet the needs of our seniors in Ontario?

My question is for the Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. It’s a reality that every year, more than one million people in Ontario experience mental health and addictions challenges.

In 2020, our government introduced the Roadmap to Wellness initiative, a strategy that builds and strengthens access to quality mental health care and addictions services in our province. This initiative was created with the goal of improving mental health care for everyone across Ontario.

Our government must remain committed to building an Ontario where everyone is fully supported in their journey towards mental wellness. Speaker, can the associate minister please provide an update on the progress that our government has made to improve the delivery of critical mental health services?

Speaker, the opioid crisis is creating serious impacts on rural, remote and northern communities across our province. In northern Ontario, the population has unfortunately experienced higher rates of overdose than any other region in Ontario. With transportation being a significant barrier to accessing mental health and addictions services, many Ontarians who live in the north are looking to connect with care that’s closer to their homes. Our government must do all that we can to address the ongoing challenges in accessing service in northern communities.

Speaker, can the associate minister please share what our government is doing to ensure that all Ontarians have access to high-quality mental health and addictions care?