I’d like to welcome parents from Kensington junior public school here today: Pouya Hamidi, Anna Gutkowska, Ricardo Junco Reinosa, Diana Laura Pech Mis, Julia Dorfman, Christopher McElhone, Nate Kreiswirth, Angie Gammage, Rebecca Osolen, Sepideh Shahi, Robyn Armstrong and Pete Wen. Thank you so much for joining us here today.

Today I’m here to talk about child care. Parents across our riding, across our city, rely on child care. I think of Liz McLaughlin, who works as a nurse at Princess Margaret Hospital. I met her when her child care centre, Carmelite, announced they were closing, forcing her and 175 families to look for new child care options in a city that has very few available.

A typical wait-list is the kind of wait-list that exists at St. Alban’s child care. There are over 100 people waiting for a spot at St. Alban’s. I asked St. Alban’s, “Why don’t you just expand to meet the need that is clearly available?” They said, “We’re struggling to even survive.” Last year, St. Alban’s operated at a deficit because the federal-provincial arrangement doesn’t allow them to raise child care fees; however, they’re not provided with enough money to cover costs. They have lost more staff in the past year than they have lost in the previous 25 because they cannot recruit or keep workers, because wages are too low and housing costs are too expensive in our city, so people are moving and leaving. It is a huge problem.

As the need for child care rises, our child care system is not able to meet the need—or even, in some cases, they’re struggling to survive. I worry that the provincial-federal child care program is at risk.

I urge this government to look for real solutions to keep child care a reality in Ontario.

I’d like to welcome the grandparents and the parents of our head page today. Our head page is Leo Kemeny–Wodlinger. His grandparents Marika and Robert Kemeny are here with his dad and mom, Jason Wodlinger and Gabrielle Kemeny. Thank you so much for being here today.

I recently met a mom in my riding, Amy. It was very hard to listen to Amy’s story because it felt like her life was impossible. She’s a working parent, she’s a single parent, and she’s also a parent of two children with autism. Her oldest is eight and he is very high-needs. He cannot be left alone.

Amy was very clear with me when I talked to her that what she is desperately needing is stable and regular funding for therapy so that her children can reach their full potential. She needs funding for summer programs for kids with autism, which she has a hard time finding, so that she can keep her job and pay the rent. She emphasizes it is essential for her economic survival that she get help. Without support, Amy describes her life as “living in hell.”

She has been waiting months for provincial funding she is eligible for and it has not arrived. I will make sure to follow up with the minister opposite to inquire about her case because she is in distress. She is not alone. There are thousands of people like Amy.

I recently spoke to Surrey Place. It is a provider of excellent autism programs in my riding of University–Rosedale. They emphasized to me in that meeting that the need for autism programs is growing, while their ability to provide for this need is shrinking. There are more children waiting for preschool speech and language programs, and that is unacceptable. I want to see something in the 2023 budget—