I appreciated the remarks of the government members on this bill, which we on this side of the House have been clear that we support because it does take some modest action to improve protections for children and youth.

However, many of the concerns that this bill addresses and more—a huge number more of concerns—were identified by the former child and youth advocate in this province, Irwin Elman. He points out that there are 19,000 serious occurrence reports every quarter that are produced by group residential homes. And one of his primary roles was to address those serious occurrence reports.

So why did the government not take the opportunity to reinstate that vital position of child and youth advocate?

I would like to thank my constituent Carl Kelly, who is a prostate cancer survivor and an active volunteer in the London Prostate Cancer Support group, who provided me with signed copies of petitions urging this government to ensure OHIP coverage for PSA testing.

The petition notes that prostate cancer is the most common cancer to affect Canadian men. It notes that early detection of prostate cancer saves lives and that PSA testing is a critical screening tool to enable that early detection. It calls on the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to ensure that PSA testing is covered under OHIP for all eligible residents of this province.

I support this petition, affix my signature and send it to the table with page Norah.

The petition notes the significant cuts to community mental health services and the effective disbanding of the anti-racism directorate, which have led to an increase in demand for mental health services on campus and an increase in reported incidents of hate and racism on Ontario campuses. It also notes that this government has come nowhere close to providing the funding that colleges and universities need in this province in order to provide appropriate mental health and anti-racism supports for students.

It notes that Bill 166 opens the door to political interference, which is why—

I have a petition signed by many Londoners entitled “Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Support Gender-Affirming Health Care.

“Whereas two-spirit, transgender, non-binary, gender-diverse, and intersex communities face significant challenges to accessing health care services that are friendly, competent, and affirming in Ontario;

“Whereas everyone deserves access to health care, and they shouldn’t have to fight for it, shouldn’t have to wait for it, and should never receive less care or support because of who they are; and

“Whereas gender-affirming care is life-saving care;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the ... NDP’s Gender Affirming Health Care Advisory Committee Act to improve access to and coverage for gender-affirming health care in Ontario.”

I support this petition, affix my signature and will send it to the table with page Kate.

I want to thank my colleague for her remarks. Last week, we had a constituency week and I took the opportunity to visit a number of community service agencies in the London area. I visited staff at Community Living London, Thames Valley Addiction and Mental Health Services, L’Arche, Meals on Wheels etc. One of the things I heard repeatedly was that there has been no increase at all in base funding for many of these vital community support agencies for a decade or more. They are already dealing with wages in that sector that are far below the wages that are paid to similar workers in the institutional sector.

I wondered if the member would like to comment on whether there was any funding in this budget to help stabilize and ensure the sustainability of that vital community support sector.

I’m very proud of the track record of the NDP in fighting for presumptive coverage to those kinds of cancers for firefighters. I know that the former leader of the official opposition, Andrea Horwath, had brought in a private member’s bill—I believe it was her first private member’s bill, shortly after she was elected to this place—to make that presumptive coverage available to firefighters. A former member for Parkdale–High Park, Cheri DiNovo, also brought in private member’s legislation to ensure that there was WSIB coverage for PTSD for first responders.

So, yes, of course, we would support those measures. We have supported them always in the past. We have pushed the government to bring in those kinds of changes.