We have put several supports and increased funding to not just support centres but to victim witness programs and into every sector of our expansion for the justice system. So it wouldn’t be the tool, quite frankly, of this bill to do a funding increase per se.

I’m happy to chat more about where you think the system needs more supports, but we are supporting the system and we are supporting the victims of everything from serious sexual assaults to human trafficking all the way through the system, Madam Speaker. As they need the supports, we’re providing them and, of course, we’ll continue to provide more in the future.

Look, the architects serve a very critical part of our housing strategy. Without the architects, we wouldn’t be able to build the 1.5 million homes that we are going to.

The architectural technologist category does exist already, but as was mentioned to my friend from Ottawa–Vanier, there is a glitch in the system. The glitch is that they exist as an entity, as a part of the puzzle for moving us forward, but there was an issue around the architects association being able to provide regulatory oversight. So, Madam Speaker, we’re taking the opportunity to fix that glitch and get them back to work.

My question is to the Premier. Since this government came to office, the post-secondary sector has seen a 12% decline in operating grants. Per-student funding now accounts for less than one third of university operating revenues—by far the lowest in Canada—while the need for investment in student mental health, housing and other supports has never been greater.

Last week, the Council of Ontario Universities released a report on the extensive efforts already being made by the sector to find efficiencies and cost savings. Speaker, how can this government possibly think that the funding crisis they created can be magically solved by universities just finding more efficiencies?

At the same time, Ontario university tuition fees remain among the highest in Canada. Students should not have to make up for this government’s failure to properly fund universities, especially during an affordability crisis.

Will this government commit today to a sustainability plan for the sector that increases operating grants without increasing student tuition?

That member’s question is very well timed because last week, on November 23, alongside General Jones, we announced $300 million in provincial funding to help recruit thousands of PSWs in the long-term-care community—that’s $25,400 in incentives to PSW students and recent graduates. Here’s how it breaks down: $10,000 to those who commit to working in a long-term-care home or community care for at least 12 months; another $10,000 to help with relocation costs for those who commit to working in rural, remote or northern communities for 12 months; plus a $5,400 allowance to students while they complete their clinical placement in a long-term-care home or community care.

Speaker, by recruiting thousands of new PSWs into the sector, we are ensuring that people who need care in the long-term-care setting have the best care available to them—working towards that four hours of daily care for residents.

We’re getting it done for seniors in Ontario.

We are also providing $100 million to help PSWs who want to become practical nurses and advance their careers and practical nurses who want to become registered nurses to do the same—an opportunity to scale up and to continue to prosper and succeed while they help our seniors, Speaker. Our efforts are leading to results: 2,000 new nurses to the long-term-care sector will be added by 2025, which will ultimately help reach our goal, as the member said, of four hours of daily care per resident.

Let’s remember, Speaker: Seniors built our lives as we know it. They built our communities. They took care of us; we have a moral imperative to take care of them. That’s exactly what this government is doing by investing in them, Speaker. We’re getting it done for seniors.

My question is to the Premier. Last week, there were at least two overdoses at the corner of Church and Wellesley in broad daylight, just three city blocks from this very building. The community members were horrified to learn that getting someone into an addiction treatment and recovery bed takes at least a year, when we all know that mental health and addiction services are provincially funded. This government has been making one-off announcements for one-time funding, and it’s clearly not meeting the basic needs.

Can the Premier explain to this community and to those across the city how someone struggling with addiction is supposed to get help when there’s no shelter and the wait-lists for basic recovery beds are at least one year long?