Today, I want to highlight the importance of volunteers. I recently attended a couple of fundraisers in my riding to raise money for important causes.

I attended the second annual Dairy Cares event, where local dairy farmers, stakeholders and agribusinesses across Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry come together to celebrate and thank our three local hospitals: Cornwall Community Hospital, Winchester District Memorial Hospital and Glengarry Memorial Hospital. This year, the event raised over $234,000 for these three hospitals.

I participated in a fashion show for the House of Lazarus, in co-operation with St. James Anglican Church, that raised over $10,000 for the organization. They operate a warming hub where the community can access a shower, laundry services, a bed, breakfast and lunch once a week, and can get legal advice, and get advice from a nurse practitioner at no cost.

I also visited the St. Vincent de Paul food bank, followed by a volunteer appreciation luncheon at the Royal Canadian Legion across the street.

Speaker, volunteers are essential to the functioning of many organizations and communities. Volunteers contribute their time, skills, passion and love, and they are driven by a desire to make a positive impact, without expecting monetary compensation. They bring billions of dollars to the economy by volunteering their time at local events and charities. Their unpaid contributions have a significant economic impact through cost savings and enhanced community well-being. Volunteers play a crucial role and are the heart of strong, tight-knit communities.

Let’s be clear: That was a forecast in 2022, and that is why our government is investing record amounts into our health care system, including $743 million in this year’s budget over the next three years to address immediate health care staffing needs. That’s on top of the 63,000 new nurses that have registered to work in Ontario since 2018. An additional 80,000 nurses will join the health care workforce by 2028, increasing the number of post-secondary education seats, as well, by 2,000 registered nurses and an extra 1,000 registered practical nurses.

Our government will continue to do what is required to ensure that we have the best publicly funded health care, when and where the people need it.

It’s important to remember where our health care system was when Minister Jones was sworn in as the Minister of Health in 2022. Ontario and the rest of the world was only beginning to recover from the global pandemic, a pandemic that showed the holes in Ontario’s health care system caused by over a decade of neglect by the Liberal government, propped up by the NDP.

Since Minister Jones was sworn in as the Minister of Health, our government has registered a record number of new nurses two years in a row, registering a total of 32,000 nurses in Ontario. Our government recognized that the status quo was no longer working for Ontarians, and that is why, under the leadership of Premier Ford, we have taken action to build a more connected and convenient health care system.

It’s an honour to rise today to join in this afternoon’s debate. Before I begin, I’d like to thank the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services and his entire team for the tremendous work that has gone into Bill 188, the Supporting Children's Futures Act, 2024. Their hard work and strong leadership does not go unnoticed, and it was a privilege to work alongside the minister, the staff and the member from Markham–Thornhill as the former parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services. I’d also like to recognize the foundational work put into this bill by the now-Minister of Colleges and Universities when she was in her former role as the Associate Minister of Children and Women’s Issues, in collaboration with the now-Minister of Energy in his former role as the Minister of Children, Community and Social Services.

I’m pleased to stand here today to offer my complete support for Bill 188. Speaker, I’m proud of our government’s record in this area, and not just because I was the former parliamentary assistant. Since our government has taken office, we have undertaken a comprehensive redesign of the child welfare system in Ontario. We did this because we want the best for every child and youth living in Ontario. Every single child and youth deserves a decent start in life and a safe, stable home, regardless of their circumstances. Our government wants to ensure that nobody in our province is left behind.

Speaker, as a direct result of that redesign, our government has introduced numerous new initiatives to improve the quality of care in out-of-home settings. For example, we have increased accountability to these settings by adding 20 new positions across the province to support the management, inspection and oversight of out-of-home care for children and youth. Another example includes the launch of the Ready, Set, Go Program, which commenced last April. Our government has invested $170 million into this innovative program, which provides youth with crucial life skills and supports they need to pursue post-secondary education, skilled trades training and employment opportunities early in their journey, to prepare them for eventually transitioning out of care.

Dr. Rebekah Jacques, who was a survivor of the Sixties Scoop, shared her view of the importance of this program, stating, “The Ready, Set, Go Program is a great start to support the transition from being a youth in care to becoming a young adult. By offering an opportunity of gradual independence as well as softening the abrupt effects of being ejected from the foster system, youth are going to be better prepared to enter adulthood.”

As you can see, Speaker, the Ready, Set, Go Program is just one example of the critically important work that this ministry does, and a testament to the fact that the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services is there for people throughout their entire lives.

Speaker, in regard to Bill 188, the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024, at its core, it seeks to protect children and youth in care by establishing new measures for safety, oversight, accountability and privacy. It also seeks to provide better opportunities for children and youth in care so that they can thrive as adults later in life and contribute more fully to their communities.

Strengthening oversight and enforcement tools for out-of-home care works to ensure that all children and youth in care will receive safe, high-quality services. Through new high-impact enforcement tools, bad actors can be rooted out and held accountable. Some of these tools include compliance orders, administrative monetary penalties and enhanced charges with larger fines.

Speaker, Bill 188, if passed, will also work to protect the privacy of children and youth once they leave care. Access to records held by children’s aid societies regarding a child or youth will be restricted once they are no longer in the care. To further support privacy and autonomy of these individuals, another proposal of Bill 188 is to enable adults with a history of child protection involvement to publicly identify themselves and speak about their experiences, supporting them in sharing their story, if they choose to do so. Through Bill 188, access by others to personal records of former children and youth in care will be restricted, while also supporting their ability to speak freely regarding their own lived experiences.

This bill also proposes to establish clear and consistent practices in the Child, Youth and Family Services Act through a number of measures. One proposal of this bill is to enable information sharing between children’s aid societies and the College of Early Childhood Educators as well as the Ontario College of Teachers, which would allow for timely action in the event of an allegation of risk to children that involves a teacher or early childhood educator.

Moreover, if passed, the bill will clarify that early childhood educators also have a duty to report children in need of protection and introduce penalties for those who fail to report such cases. All of these measures are to ensure that every child and youth in care in Ontario is safe and protected.

I’d like to now share some feedback from our valuable partners in the child and youth sector. Valerie McMurtry is the president and CEO of Children’s Aid Foundation of Canada. Valerie states, “We commend the Ontario government for their work to increase clarity regarding the care of young people placed in out-of-home settings through the Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024. Our collective priority should be to ensure that young people remain in the care of their families and communities. However, when this isn’t feasible, it’s critical that young people have access to the high-quality supports they need, including understanding their rights and assistance available to them through Ontario’s Ombudsman. We value government’s commitment to making sure young people receive this information and ensuring their voices stay central in shaping this act and next steps with respect to child welfare redesign.”

According to Susan Somogyi Wells, CEO of Family Service Ontario, “The Supporting Children’s Futures Act, 2024, enhances the safety, privacy and rights of children and youth. Family Service Ontario strongly supports this legislation for its commitment to safeguarding the well-being of our children and youth, mitigating the risks of developmental trauma.”

Speaker, this is proof that the proposed changes within Bill 188 are the result of extensive, continuous consultations with our community partners and service providers. The staff at the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services held over 30 virtual engagements with various stakeholder groups, including youth with lived experiences. Stakeholders through the Ontario Regulatory Registry were also engaged with, and 35 written submissions were received on the proposed changes.

Bill 188 is a testament to this government’s commitment to partnership. The progress we have made in this sector has only been possible with the support and efforts of our countless partners and front-line workers. We commend them for their commitment to supporting children and youth across the province.

This government will continue to work in tandem with our vital community partners and stakeholders to bring our joint vision of ensuring that all children, youth and families across our province can access the supports they need to thrive. The children and youth that this bill seeks to protects are our future. We need the children and the youth of today to thrive so that the adults of tomorrow have the tools they need to succeed. For our youth to realize their true potential, we need to be there to support and guide them at each step of their journey.

Since 2020, our government has been redesigning Ontario’s child welfare system to enhance early intervention, improve the outcomes for children and address barriers to support. As we all know, this is a process, and the minister is committed to ensuring that our children are set up with the right tools to ensure that they have the best childhood and futures possible.

I thank the member opposite for allowing me to answer the question. She touched upon the mental health; we’ve invested $3.8 billion in the Roadmap to Wellness with an increased focus on children’s mental health, increasing our investment by 25% to a half a billion dollars, which includes innovative programs. Currently, 120,000 children see this mental health support annually.

For children with special needs, our government took significant action. We’re investing an additional $105 million annually into children’s rehabilitation services. Our government will continue to ensure that the children are looked after for the future.

Listening to the children with lived experiences and the adults with lived experience was extremely important to ensure that we’re pushing this in the right direction.