Back to the Premier: We all know that the privatization of orthopaedic surgery and the poaching of staff from our public hospitals is exactly what this government wants to do with Bill 60. But section 4 of the Ontario Public Hospitals Act is very clear: Leasing any space in a public hospital requires the explicit written approval of the Ministry of Health. You can’t even put a Tim Hortons in a hospital without ministerial approval. The law in Ontario is clear: The Ottawa Hospital cannot lease its operating room without the explicit written approval of the Minister of Health. I hope the Premier knows that.

When will the Premier investigate the apparent breach of Ontario laws by the for-profit corporation leasing operating rooms at the Ottawa Hospital?

Speaker, from the very beginning, as we put forward an almost billion-dollar three-year investment to expand surgical innovation and to deal with surgical backlog, the Ottawa Hospital, under the leadership of CEO Cam Love have been doing exactly what we asked. I’m going to quote CEO Cam Love: “Such concerns raised by” the member opposite “are unfounded, and the innovative model used by AOAO has resulted in more orthopaedic surgeries being completed faster.”

This is about people. This is about 40 people who needed and were waiting for hip and knee surgeries, who got that surgery faster as a result of innovation that’s happening at the Ottawa Hospital. I am incredibly proud of the partnership that they have been able to manage and work through with AOAO, and as we see more of these innovations coming forward, we will continue to fund them through a program that—

There is no doubt that Ontario leads the Canadian jurisdictions in making sure that people have fast access, but we can do better, and we are doing better. And we’re doing that with Bill 60 and with Your Health, because it means that those expansions can happen—in non-urgent, regularly scheduled surgeries that can happen in the community. I am incredibly proud of the work that we’ve been able to put through with Bill 60.

If the member opposite would focus on individuals in her riding who are desperate for that surgery to happen sooner, she might have a better chance of getting more NDP members.

Speaker, $560 million is going to make a difference to organizations such as Meals on Wheels. We understand that they are doing exceptional work, making sure that our seniors, our most vulnerable, our individuals who are recovering from surgeries get that support in their home and are not then needing more complex care in hospitals or long-term care.

We’ll make those investments, and I hope when you look at that line item in the budget, you’ll say, “This is important for the city of Ottawa, and we will be supporting it.”

I have a petition here called “Stop Ford’s Health Care Privatization Plan.”

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;

“Whereas Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones are trying to privatize parts of health care;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of our public hospitals, making the health care crisis worse;

“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to further privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:

“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better pay and better working conditions;

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;

“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals;

“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;

“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”

I fully support this petition, will sign it and send it to the table with one of the pages.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;

“Whereas Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones say they’re planning to privatize parts of health care;

“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of” public health, “making the health care crisis worse;

“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to further privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:

“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better pay and better working conditions;

“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;

“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals;

“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;

“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”

I support this. I’ll give this to our page and sign it.