I’m very happy to welcome members of the Ontario Autism Coalition to Queen’s Park: Alina, Tony, Bruce, Laura and Michau.

Thank you very much for joining me this morning. It’s great to see all of you. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

I want to thank my colleague from Richmond Hill for the great question and all the great work that she does in her riding.

Speaker, our government’s investments in the Student Nutrition Program and the First Nations Student Nutrition Program have been instrumental in ensuring that students across Ontario have access to healthy and nutritious meals. Earlier this year, our government invested an additional $1.1 million into these programs. And just the other week, alongside the Minister of Education, we announced an additional investment of $5 million in funding, bringing the total provincial funding to $38 million this year. These investments will help us deliver almost 90 million nutritious meals and snacks to students, ensuring that they have the energy and focus they need to excel in their education.

We’ll continue to deliver this vital service to students who depend on it, because—I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again—students may be a portion of our population; they’re 100%—

I thank my colleague for the follow-up. Mr. Speaker, our government believes that no student should go to school hungry. That’s why we’ve partnered with organizations—including the Arrell Family Foundation, the Breakfast Club of Canada, the Schad Foundation, and the Grocery Foundation—to improve these programs. The $1.67 million already raised by partners, alongside our government’s $5-million investment, shows how public and private entities can come together to make a meaningful impact on the lives of Ontario students. I’m grateful for the generous support, and I encourage all Ontarians to get involved and support the success of our students. Together, we can provide a strong foundation for their academic achievement and overall well-being in the province—because, again, they’re 100% of our future, and we need to continue to invest in them.

I thank my colleague for the question. I’d be more than happy to tell her why. I’ve done it many times, and I’ll do it again—because the program wasn’t working for the people of this province. Mr. Speaker, 25% of the children and youth who were on the registry were receiving services before. Today, over 40,000 families are receiving supports and services. That’s why.

That party supported a failed program under the previous government. The families told them that.

We started from scratch. We worked with those with lived experience—experts, clinicians—to put a program that was put together by the community for the community. We went with more than that—we doubled the funding, to $600 million. And we didn’t stop there. This year, I announced that we further increased the funding of the Ontario Autism Program by an additional 10%.

We’re doing what they couldn’t do for the people of this province.

We’ve developed a program that was put together by the community for the community. The programs that she won’t list—I will do for her. These are programs that families across the province are accessing every day, as soon as they register on AccessOAP—foundational family services; caregiver-mediated early years programs; the entry to school program; urgent response service. Before, they had access to one service. Today they have multiple streams that they can access—every single family—as soon as they register for AccessOAP.

Once again, Mr. Speaker, the opposition always will come in here and they’ll talk to you about what their questions represent—but they held the balance of power. You’ve been here longer than any one of us. You know the process of Parliament. They could have held the previous government to account and said, “We will no longer support you if you do not double the Ontario Autism Program.” But they failed the people of this province. We’re not going to—

Interjections.