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Decentralized Democracy

Hon. Michael Parsa

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill
  • Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Suite 201 13085 Yonge St. Richmond Hill, ON L4E 3S8 Michael.Parsaco@pc.ola.org
  • tel: 905-773-6250
  • fax: 905-773-8158
  • Michael.Parsaco@pc.ola.org

  • Government Page
  • May/29/24 10:00:00 a.m.

I thank my colleague for the question. Quite the contrary, Madam Speaker—if you look at the bill, this bill was developed by sector partners. It was in my remarks. Both the IPC and the Ombudsman were involved, and they both had positive things to say about this bill and the member knows that.

As I said from day one, this isn’t the first and it won’t be the last initiative that we will put forward. We will continue to look at ways, talk to our stakeholders, talk to partners, talk to experts within the field and within the sector to make sure that we look at every single proposal to improve the lives of children and youth in care. Because I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again and again, we will do whatever it takes to make sure no child and youth is left behind. But this isn’t the first or last initiative. Bill 188, if passed, some of initiatives that were brought in by the opposition were—

We won’t stop that, even past this bill. As I said, this isn’t the first; it won’t be the last. We are going to continuously put initiatives forward to improve the lives of children and youth in care. Throughout the child welfare redesign, which was initiated a couple of years ago, that has been the theme. It’s paramount that we capture the views and input of everyone within the sector: service providers, those with lived experience. That’s the only way we’re going to get it right. We’re going to continue to listen to everybody who has an input that would help us improve the lives of children and youth in the province.

That’s not going to stop. We’re going to continue to listen to them. We’re going to continue making sure that we get the feedback, because in some cases—maybe other governments in the past had put one initiative forward and forgot about children and youth. It’s not going to happen under this Premier. It’s not going to happen under this government. This isn’t the first and it won’t be the last. We’re going to continue engaging with our partners. We’re going to continue listening to them to make sure that we get it right every single time.

That’s what’s driving the child welfare redesign in our province, Madam Speaker, because we are collaborating, because we are listening, because we are listening to those with lived experience, which is why we’re protecting the history of children and youth in care, something that—

We backed that up by investment and we’ll continue to support them to make sure no child and youth is ever left behind in this province.

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  • Apr/18/23 10:40:00 a.m.

I thank the honourable colleague for the question.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear: There is absolutely no room whatsoever in our system for individuals, entities or organizations that either willfully or through neglect fail in their duty of care towards children. Every single child in our province, whether they’re in care or not, deserves the right to live in peace and safety.

I’m glad to be able to share that all three organizations that were at the centre of the Ombudsman report have accepted all 58 recommendations from the Ombudsman. It’s critical that all 58 recommendations need to be implemented swiftly so that something like this never happens again across this province. And while none of these recommendations are directed towards the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, we will nonetheless use this report to inform the continuing work of redesigning child welfare across the province.

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