Good afternoon, Speaker. On a point of order, please.

I was sorry to hear from the Minister of Colleges and Universities yesterday that the government does not support a return of the Child and Youth Advocate. The work being done by that advocate cannot be replaced by the Ombudsman. An ombudsman is complaint-based, and an advocate is there to be proactive.

But the implication was that with this new bill, everything would be fixed right away. So my question is, how long do you think it will take to bring staffing levels up to the point where it is actually possible to implement the programs suggested by the bill and protect the children as we know they need to be protected?

I thank the member from Ottawa Centre for his question. Certainly, one thing that I have noticed in my discussions is that staff have to feel that they’re empowered and that they’re supported. That’s a big piece of this where responsibilities are more clearly defined in this legislation in terms of your duty to report, in terms of your obligations or the expectations for the protection of young people that you work with.

So I think instilling that confidence that, “Hey, the staff are there. Their management has their back” is a terrific way—it’s just being established in this bill and reinforced in this bill. The funding has continued to increase over the last number of years while serving relatively fewer children. So we’re getting there with this bill. I see lots of hope on the horizon as a result of this bill.

That’s a $68-million program, and it helps children’s aid societies focus on helping children plan their futures at an earlier age. Basically, it allows you to remain in care until the age of 23, up from the age of 21, which was what happened before. And funding increased $850 per month to $1,800 for age 18, $1,500 for age 19 and $1,000 for age 20. So, these are some supports that can help under Ready, Set, Go. It really gives our youth an opportunity for a better path for the future.

The Ombudsman being part of the amount of information given to children and youth as an option—there’s nothing that’s brand new. That awareness is something that’s important, that they know that they have an ally in the Ontario Ombudsman that is looking out for them.

Thank you to my colleagues from Mississauga–Lakeshore and Windsor–Tecumseh for their thoughtful comments and passion about this bill. Thank you for your support. Thank you for sharing your own story about the children’s aid society in Windsor and your good friend who is managing—he was a former staff, and we’re getting all the inside information. Thank you for sharing that.

Madam Speaker, this bill is about working to fill the cracks in the foster care system and protecting our vulnerable children in our wonderful province by hiring more inspectors, conducting random inspections that never happened before and creating more accountability for licensees. My colleagues, could you elaborate on this: How are we protecting and enhancing this premise to protect our children in our foster care system?

Further questions?

Mr. Parsa has moved third reading of Bill 188, An Act to amend the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017 and various other Acts. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? Carried.

Be it resolved that the bill do now pass and be entitled as in the motion.

Third reading agreed to.

Report continues in volume B.

I want to thank both government members for their presentation. As we’ve already indicated, the official opposition NDP will be supporting this bill. But I have a question around inspection, because we know that good policies can only work if they are resourced and if there is appropriate funding that goes hand in hand with it. So when it comes to inspection, what resources have been given for inspections and enforcement? Will it mean that there will be proactive inspections? How many inspectors are there now and how many do you expect to have once this bill comes into force?

I want to thank the member for that great question. Our government will do whatever it takes to protect children and youth in this province. Not only that, we are creating 20 new inspection positions. As well, we’re going to be boosting the unannounced inspections to increase transparency through the system.

I want to thank the member. We’re going to continue to protect our children, because children are very important to all of us in here, especially myself. I have two young boys, and I know how important it is to protect our children through the province of Ontario.