It’s now time for further debate.

I recognize the member for Durham.

Please continue.

I want to remind the member for Durham that they were in government before the last Liberal government, and while we had 15 years of the Liberal government, you guys were the official opposition. So stop trying to shirk responsibility. You’ve been government for five years—for five years—and the health care crisis is only getting worse.

On that note, I want to mention that one of the key issues that we are seeing with the issue of health care is Bill 124, a bill that the Conservative government passed, rushed through with their majority government, that directly attacks health care workers—a largely woman-led profession, I will add. And rather than repealing Bill 124, after the courts have already found it unconstitutional, this government is spending more taxpayer dollars—

Anyway, about Bill 124: This government is fighting those workers in court after that bill was found unconstitutional. You are actually taking taxpayer dollars to fight nurses, to fight health care workers in court. You are the cause of the health care crisis, sir.

Madam Speaker, I was in committee for this bill. We heard from many workers, health care workers and organizations that represent health care workers. I chuckled—I had to chuckle; sometimes you just have to laugh or you lose your sanity in this place—when my colleague from Oshawa asked a question and the member opposite said, “It’s about consultation and talking to health care providers and health care workers and working together.” Not a single one of these workers or the organizations, the unions that represented them had consultations with this government. The government didn’t talk to any of the front-line workers who actually live it day in and day out and can tell you and have been telling you what needs to happen to fix the system. We talked about staffing crises. We heard how these health care workers feel dismissed and demeaned by the government and the legislation that this government is fighting. We heard that health care workers are leaving in droves, because they are burnt out, because they just can’t do it anymore.

In my area, health care workers take a five-minute drive across the border to work in American hospitals where they get regular, steady, reliable hours, decent pay and the respect that they deserve.

So if you want to fix the staffing crisis in health care in this province, start treating health care workers with the respect they deserve and start paying them properly.

Speaker, I want to thank the residents of Windsor-Essex. Earlier this week, I read a petition into the record, and that came from residents of Windsor-Essex who want this government to stop this bill. They do not want this government to profitize and privatize health care.

My colleague from Oshawa had also asked a question, and the member for Durham—sorry, it was my colleague from Nickel Belt who asked a question about Extendicare. She raised Extendicare, a company that runs for profit, a long-term-care company and corporation that made $300 million in profits in the first year of the pandemic alone. I want to point out that, throughout the pandemic, 5,400 people died in long-term care. The military had to go in. And there was a report talking about how many of these residents died from lack of basic needs. Water—I can pick this up and have a drink. These residents didn’t have that option because of the staffing crisis, because it was a for-profit company that was putting the profits—$300 million in profits in the first year of the pandemic alone, while people in their facilities were dying. And the member from Durham got up and said to the member for Nickel Belt that it was an inappropriate question—inappropriate. Well, I’m pretty sure that the families of those 5,400 residents think it’s a very appropriate question. And what did this government do? They brought in legislation to protect corporations just like that one from being sued.

That’s one of our major concerns—the lack of accountability, the lack of transparency that is baked into this bill. It’s throughout the entire bill.

There will be a director appointed. It doesn’t have to be someone with any health care background, any expertise. We don’t know who it will be. And what’s really alarming is that, within this bill, it gives that director—the very person who gets to issue licences to these profitized, shareholder-driven clinics—the right to own shares in those companies. Can you imagine that? The government wants to say to somebody who wants to make a boatload of money, “We’re going to give you the ability to issue licences to these for-profit clinics, and you can have ownership in them and make even more money, and we’re not concerned about conflict of interest.” Well, I can tell you, the people who access health care are very concerned about conflict of interest.

My colleague from Nickel Belt spoke for an hour yesterday and raised a lot of concerns that we heard at committee and from people within the health care sector, individuals who access health care, and one of the key things that kept coming up during committee was OR capacity. The government is saying we don’t have OR capacity within our public, not-for-profit health care—a system that they are underfunding. We heard that in committee. We heard many presenters say, “This is deliberate. They are deliberately underfunding, deliberately attacking health care workers”—I said it myself—“to drive the narrative that we have to move towards private, profitized, shareholder-driven health care.” It’s not accurate. We had doctors come forward and say, “There’s OR capacity. The problem is, we don’t have the staff.” So these ORs are being shut down in our public, not-for-profit hospitals, when—if the hospital would provide the proper funding, if they would repeal Bill 124 and stop fighting these health care workers in court, if they would raise the caps on the number of surgeries that hospitals are funded to do, that backlog could be addressed within the not-for-profit, public health care system. But what this government does is, it gives more money to the profitized clinics, gives them a higher ceiling, a higher cap on how many surgeries they can do, and they fund them more than our public system.

I want to quote Sara Labelle; she was one of the presenters at committee who represents health care workers. She’s from OPSEU, and she represents thousands of workers in health care settings, and I think it was a really good analogy she used to compare what this government is trying to tell people is going to happen. They’re saying, “Don’t worry about it. We have a staffing, health human resource crisis in our public health care system, but when we open up these private, for-profit, shareholder-driven clinics with very little oversight, that’s not going to strain the public system anymore.” And what Ms. Labelle said was: Imagine there are two homes and the pipes burst in each of those homes, but there’s only one qualified plumber. The Conservatives probably wouldn’t care whether it was a qualified plumber or not. There’s only one plumber. That plumber cannot be in two places and do the work in both of those homes. Health care workers can’t be in two places providing care to patients. It’s just not possible. They can’t even be in two rooms within the same facility, let alone working in two different facilities and provide care.

We heard from numerous Indigenous groups, faith-based leaders, people who represent marginalized communities and people living in poverty, who said this bill will only further marginalize them, will further decrease their access to health care, because these private, for-profit, shareholder-driven clinics will only take the easiest surgical cases available. As my colleague says, they’ll take the healthy and the wealthy, and if you have complex medical needs, you’ll be sent back to the public, not-for-profit health care system, to the hospital where you’ll sit in line and wait for care because we do not have the health human resources. We don’t have the human beings, the health care workers to provide that care, because they’re going to go to the private clinics, and I can’t blame them for that. They’re going to go where it’s a 9-to-5 job, no weekends, no evenings, no holidays. They’ve got steady hours, and they’re going to get better pay. They’re going to be able to go home and spend time with their family. But with this government, under Bill 24, they can’t do any of that. They’re lucky if they get to go to the bathroom during the day.

Yesterday, my colleague from Toronto–Danforth asked the question of the Minister of Health—and I’m going to quote some of what he said. He said a resident of York region had reached out to him. The resident is an 80-year-old man who “was just recently told that his prostate condition could no longer be controlled by drugs and that he needed surgery. He was offered two choices: He could wait for a year and a half to get surgery with his OHIP card through Mackenzie Health, or he could pay $6,000 with his credit card and get his care within three weeks at a private clinic.”

Yet this government says, “Don’t worry about Bill 60. All your care is going to be covered by your OHIP card.” They’re anticipating this bill passing; because the Conservatives have a majority government, it will.

It’s already happening—where they’re saying, “You give me a few thousand dollars, I’ll take you faster and get your care.” And who can fault somebody for wanting to get their care faster? But people are literally mortgaging their futures. They’re taking out loans, taking out their credit cards and maxing them out to get care at these profitized clinics. Because these clinics will have shareholders, legally they are beholden to the shareholders to produce profits. That is number one.

The member for Ottawa South then did a question later on in question period yesterday, and I was alarmed. Nothing really shocks me with this government anymore, but I was alarmed. He said that Lisa, a patient whose wait time for breast cancer surgery at the Ottawa Hospital was so long that she was forced to go to a private clinic to pay $50,000 for the life-saving surgery she needed because the wait times for breast cancer surgery are so long—and we are only going to see more of that. We’re going to see an explosion of that. Can you imagine—life-saving surgery, breast cancer surgery, and she has to come up with $50,000 for care—$50,000.

Speaker, there were a few Conservative members in the committee who said—because we talked about Tommy Douglas, the father of medicare, the person who believed in equity of access, that nobody should be able to pay to go to the front of the line, nor should anyone ever have to pay for health care, frankly. We heard Conservatives say, “Oh, you guys don’t know what you’re talking about. Tommy would be proud of Bill 60. He’d support this.” This is the exact opposite of what Tommy Douglas fought for and what he brought in under an NDP government.

The Ontario Health Coalition is holding a referendum with over 1,000 polling stations across Ontario on May 26 and 27. I encourage everybody to get out to their communities and vote in that referendum against Bill 60 and against the privatization and profitization of health care. You can also vote online beginning May 2. You should check out the Ontario Health Coalition website.

I want to point out, as I said before, there are front-line workers who weren’t consulted. They came to the committee—Unifor, SEIU, OFL, CUPE, ONA all came to committee. Every single one of them said, “Repeal Bill 24. Stop fighting health care workers in court”—every single one of them. Every single one of them was asked, “Did anybody consult you or your members?” The answer was “No—didn’t happen. No collaboration.” And they actually came with solutions. I only have five minutes left, so I can’t read through all the committee transcripts, although I did print them off just in case. But they came with solutions that this government just doesn’t want to hear, because they want these shareholders—friends, donors, maybe? I don’t know—to make all kinds of money.

The member opposite—he’s not the only one, the member for Durham. We heard it all throughout committee. We hear the talking points from the government side when they talk to this bill, about it being innovation.

I’ve said it every time I’ve had a chance: Privatization and profitization is not innovation. It’s a cop-out. It’s taking us backwards.

I stood here in this place a month or so ago and talked about how universal, single-payer health care came to be in this province and in this country—not long before I was born, and I’m in my early 50s. Before that, it was privatized and it was profitized. It is the oldest game in the book, and it is a cop-out.

If the government would stop attacking health care workers, would repeal Bill 124, would actually invest in our publicly funded, publicly delivered, not-for-profit system, we could address these backlogs. The workers within the system are telling you that it can be done. You just need to give them the tools to do it.

Again, I want to point out that the government is funding these private, for-profit, shareholder-driven clinics more than they are our publicly funded, publicly delivered, not-for-profit health care system. These clinics can do more surgeries not because of capacity, but because the government gives them more to be able to have the staff to be able to do that.

The last thing that I want to say, as I see my time is running out, is that there’s great concern around upselling. It’s already happening, where people are told, “This is what you need. Here’s your medical condition. We can address that condition. Here’s kind of like the basic thing, but, hey, this is better and you should have this.” It’s preying on vulnerable people who just want care. They just want to feel better. They just want to see better. They just want to walk better. That’s what they need. They want out of pain. They’re taken advantage of in many of these clinics—not all clinics, I want to be clear—and you’re opening the door for more of the people to do just that, to take advantage, because there’s no oversight.

I want to make it clear in the last couple minutes that I have, Madam Speaker: I think most of the people in this province were left out of this conversation because you rushed this bill so quickly. I said that you should be travelling it; you didn’t. You pushed it through as quickly as you possibly could so that people wouldn’t have time to know what you were up to. That is absolutely shameful because it will affect millions of people in this province. Many of those will be excluded from being able to get the care they need in a timely fashion. This is private, for-profit, shareholder-driven decision-making.

The government side will say it’s about—the name of the bill is Your Health. They’ll say that it’s about your health and you accessing health care faster: “You’ll get it with your OHIP card, not your credit card”—which we know is not accurate. It’s already happening; people are paying.

But this is what I want to say to the people in my riding of Windsor West and across the province: This is not about your health. This is about their wealth. This is about the wealth of shareholders. This is about the wealth of corporations and enriching them and making life better for them. This is not about your health. If the government really cared about your health, they would invest in the publicly funded, publicly delivered not-for-profit system that we have now so that people get the care they need when they need it. If it was about the health of the people in this province, they would be investing in the front-line workers, in the publicly delivered, not-for-profit system.

You are purposely—purposely—trying to collapse a health care system that reaches all of Ontarians and cares for all of Ontarians, for the sake of pushing your privatization agenda.

I thank the member for her comments.

The member mentioned spending. As she knows, there is the budget debate bill that’s proposed. On page 139 of this document, it outlines health sector spending for this upcoming year of $81 billion—a record—and over the next three years an increase of $15.3 billion from previously.

The member quoted some references. I’d like to quote one too. The president and CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association said, “With the introduction of the government’s Your Health Act, Ontario is setting the foundation to expand and integrate community-based surgical and diagnostic centres into the public system. The Ontario Hospital Association welcomes the legislation which will require, for the first time, prospective clinics to satisfy public interest requirements and expectations to be granted for a licence.”

I’m wondering whether the member supports the quote from the Ontario Hospital Association regarding this bill.

Speaker, our government has launched the largest health care recruiting initiative in Ontario history—in addition to the thousands of new health care workers, including nurses, who have been hired in the past several years. We are on track for thousands of more health care professionals to be recruited and placed in our health care system across the province. That’s more doctors, more nurses, more personal support workers.

My question for the member opposite is, will she and her colleagues support the future of our publicly funded health care system by supporting Bill 60?

It is now time for questions.

I recognize the member for Nickel Belt.

Thank you, Speaker. You were there when we went through clause-by-clause. We brought forward 74 amendments to Bill 60. The amendments were focused on, if we are going to have investor-driven OR suites built in Ontario, let’s make sure that we protect the public. So a lot of the amendments were about bringing in transparency, bringing in oversight, bringing in protections for the people who will have to receive their care in the profit-driven system that the government is so focused on bringing forward. We also had protections for new health care workers coming in and not belonging to their college.

How did the government receive those 74 amendments to make things better, with more transparency and more accountability in our health care system?

What I can tell you is this: I would support you repealing Bill 124 and not attacking health care workers in the publicly funded, publicly delivered, not-for-profit health care system, sir. I will never, never support a health care system that is driven solely on shareholders making a profit at the expense of the people who simply need medical care. We’ve seen what has happened in long-term care with a profit-driven system.

Are you proud of the record of 5,400 people dying in long-term care because profit was put above care? That’s my question to you.

The government actually voted against every single amendment that would have made this bill better and made it safer for people in the province to get care, to make it faster for people in this province to get care.

I want to quote Dr. Bernard Ho, who came to present. He’s a family and emergency physician in downtown Toronto. He said, “I’m also concerned that these new facilities will pose a safety risk to our patients. These proposed facilities will operate independently of any hospital or oversight committee. There’s currently a lack of detail and transparency for what safety standards these clinics will need to meet and how these will be regulated or monitored.”

I will add, again, this director who will be appointed can hold shares and ownership in these for-profit, shareholder-driven clinics that they’re supposed to be able to issue licences to. If the government can’t see how that is a conflict of interest, then they have their heads in the sand.

What you are talking about in this bill is largely opening up these private, for-profit clinics with no oversight—and I just quoted a family physician who also works in the emergency department in a hospital. There is no oversight and no transparency.

Again, I will go back to the appointment of the director, where you will allow the director who issues licences to these private, for-profit, shareholder-driven clinics to own shares in those clinics. You are talking about lives and deaths, and yet you are allowing a system where the director can hold shares in a company that they give licences to to provide health care, with no oversight and no transparency.

And when we’re talking about mental health and mental well-being and we’re talking about patient care and we’re talking about health human resources, this government is driving health care workers out of the health care system because of Bill 124. These workers are burnt out, they feel demoralized, they feel unappreciated, and they are overworked. Until Bill 124 is repealed, that is not going to change. It doesn’t matter what kind of programs you put in, saying we’re going to get thousands more. Until you stop attacking them and start paying them and respecting them, we are going to continue to have a health human resources issue.

For the record, I have talked to those people. I’ve also talked to the front-line workers who are telling me the issues they’re facing working in our health care system. I would recommend that the member for Windsor–Tecumseh do the same.

I would like to take this opportunity to raise awareness of next week being Mental Health Week in the province of Ontario, May 1 to 7. Mental health is so important in all of our lives. This year’s theme is #MyStory. So it’s encouraging folks to tell their stories, to break the stigma, in knowing that every single one of us have mental health—it’s how we deal with it, it’s how we encounter it with others, and it’s how we support others in our communities.

I will bring it to the question to the member and thank her for her time on Bill 60 today.

Retention in our hospitals for nurses and doctors is a major problem. A lot of that goes back to mental health.

Does she think that the 5% that was given to our mental health programs in our cities was enough, instead of the 8% that they had asked for across the board?

Further debate?

I’m pleased to rise in this House to have the opportunity to speak to Bill 60 and our government’s plans to clear the surgical backlog so Ontarians can get the care they need when and where they need it. We are proud that, as a result of almost $1 billion in funding from this government and the hard work of our hospital sector, doctors and nurses, Ontario has returned to pre-pandemic wait times for surgical and diagnostic procedures—pre-pandemic. This bill is part of our many efforts to do even better.

I should add, when I look at the clock, that the member from Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry will be speaking to this bill—I’ll be sharing my time with the member.

As a result of our investments, Ontario has some of the shortest wait times in all of Canada, but we know that’s not enough, because even with all the success from our surgical recovery funding, we’re still back to where we were with the backlog that we inherited from the previous government. We can do more and we will do more to improve wait times across the province. That’s why we introduced Bill 60, which supports the expansion of surgical, procedural and diagnostic services in the community. By doing this, we are reducing wait times by increasing access to surgeries and procedures such as MRIs, CT scans, cataract surgeries, orthopedics, colonoscopies and others.

In December 2022, this government invested in operating funding for 27 new MRI machines, including one in my riding. The Smith Falls site of the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital is one of those recipients. For over 30 years, community surgery and diagnostic centres have been partners in Ontario’s health care system—for over 30 years. This is not new.

Like hospitals, community surgical and diagnostic centres are held accountable to the highest-quality standards, the standards Ontarians deserve and expect across the health care system. In committee, Dr. Agarwal commented, “I’ll say that the Ontario Association of Radiologists strongly supports the current Bill 60 that’s being proposed and we applaud the government for its innovative approach to solving a very complex problem,” in reference to expanding integrated community health services centres to address the MRI and CT backlog.

To make that happen, we are investing more than $18 million in existing centres—there are over 900 of them—to cover care for thousands of patients, including:

—more than 49,000 hours of MRI and CT scans;

—4,800 cataract surgeries;

—900 ophthalmic surgeries;

—1,000 minimally invasive gynecological surgeries; and

—2,845 plastic surgeries.

I would like to emphasize that this is all publicly funded. The costs of receiving these insured services in community surgical and diagnostic centres is covered by an Ontario health card, never your credit card. This is an expansion—an expansion—of our publicly funded health care system. It makes your OHIP card even more powerful.

To support integration, quality and funding accountability, oversight of community surgical centres will transition to Ontario Health. That’s beautiful. It embraces our community health services centres. This bill helps to create an environment where all of our health service providers work together in a more efficient and productive way, which is what Ontario Health and our Ontario health teams are all about. This improved integration into the broader health care system will allow Ontario Health to continue to track available community surgical capacity, assess regional needs and respond more quickly across the province and within regions where patient need exist.

Our government knows that by expanding health care services across the province, we need more health care providers to work in these settings. That’s why our government has launched the largest health care recruiting and training campaign in the province’s history. Hiring more health care professionals is the most effective step to ensure you and your family are able to see a health care provider where and when you need it. Well-trained and well-supported doctors, nurses, personal support workers and more are the people you rely on when you need care.

Let’s talk training—growing our own. This year, we’re training more health professionals than ever before:

—455 new spots for physicians in training;

—52 new physician assistant training spots;

—150 new nurse practitioner spots;

—1,500 additional nursing spots; and

—24,000 personal support workers in training by the end of 2023.

We’re investing to reduce fees for nurses who are ready and available to resume or begin practising in Ontario, who are retired and internationally educated. Some $15 million will temporarily cover the cost of examination applications and registration fees for internationally trained and retired nurses, saving them up to $1,500 each. This is often a barrier for nurses wanting to re-enter the workforce. This will help up to 5,000 internationally educated nurses and up to 3,000 retired nurses begin working sooner to strengthen our front lines.

In 2022, we helped 6,727 internationally trained health care workers get certified and start working in their chosen profession—6,727. You can’t argue with success.

Part of this investment will also be used to develop a centralized site for all internationally educated health professionals to streamline their access to supports such as education, registration and employment in their profession or an alternative career. This initiative will make it easier for internationally trained health professionals to navigate the system and get the support they need on their path to getting licensed to practise in Ontario.

To continue to support our health system, we will scale up the Enhanced Extern Program and Supervised Practice Experience Partnership program for an additional year. Since January 2022, more than 2,000 internationally educated nurses have been enrolled through the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership program, and over 1,300 of them are already fully registered.

We are providing additional funding to hire over 3,100 internationally educated nurses to work under the supervision of regulated health professionals in order to give them an opportunity to meet the experience requirements and language proficiency requirements they need to become fully licensed to work in Ontario. New funding will be extended to the home and community care sector to extend the reach of the program this year. This investment also expands the Enhanced Extern Program for an additional year.

Last year the program helped hire up to 5,000 qualified nursing, medical, respiratory therapy, paramedic, physiotherapy and occupational therapy students and internationally educated nurses to work in hospitals across the province.

Increased funding for both the Supervised Practice Experience Partnership program and Enhanced Extern Program will also allow hospitals to continue to hire more preceptors, mentors and coordinators to work with students and internationally educated nurses.

Another success story that I’ll just add in is the community paramedicine program. Since we introduced that and moved it across the province, it has now expanded and has supported more than 30,000 Ontarians.

Speaker, there are also many health care workers from across the country who want to work in Ontario. Through this legislation, we’re making innovative changes to make it easier and faster for them to begin working and providing care to people in Ontario. We are significantly reducing unnecessary bureaucratic delays and bringing reinforcements to the front lines of our health care system.

With new as-of-right rules, Ontario will become the first province in Canada to allow health care workers registered in other provinces and territories to immediately start caring for you, without the delay of having to first register with one of Ontario’s health regulatory colleges. They are already registered with a regulatory college. This change will help health care workers overcome excessive red tape that makes it difficult for them to practise in Ontario.

We will also help hospitals and other health organizations temporarily increase staffing when they need to fill vacancies or manage periods of high patient volume, such as during a flu surge. This will allow nurses, paramedics, respiratory therapists and other health care professionals to work outside of their regular responsibilities or settings, as long as they have the knowledge, skill and judgment to do so, providing hospitals and other settings with more flexibility to ensure health care professionals are filling the most in-demand roles at the right time. Together, these new initiatives will strengthen our workforce during the busy months ahead and ensure care is there when and where you need it most.

With that, I will close by thanking all of our dedicated health care workers for the incredible work they do.

Grief is an expression of love. If we don’t love, we don’t grieve. My grandmother Patricia Cunningham passed away last spring in Windsor, Ontario. She was 95. She was a mother, a grandmother, and a wife to her first husband, Ken Wood, and her second husband, Colonel Roger Cunningham.

My grandmother was an artist. She loved to find good trouble throughout her life, right up to the retirement home stage. She loved animals, music and, for some unknown reason, devilled eggs. One of my favourite memories with her is visiting Ontario Place. A lifelong resident of Windsor, she loved all genres of music and was a talented artist whose paintings grace homes worldwide, including my own Queen’s Park office.

She will be missed by her children, Allan, Laurie, Laine and Brent, and her stepdaughters, Sheila, Alexis and Martha, their spouses, and some pretty awesome grandchildren, plus family and friends.

She reminded me of Mary Tyler Moore. She was strong, creative, intelligent, independent.

Former MPP and CBC reporter Percy Hatfield told me that he used to hang out in Pat’s office waiting for the “scoop” when she was a hospital administrator. She was thrilled when he delivered a 90th birthday scroll.

I would be remiss if I didn’t ask the government to honour their promise of Alzheimer’s funding. It’s never the wrong time to do the right thing. Alzheimer patients require leadership. It is a cruel disease.

I feel fortunate to have called her my Nanny Pat. She was a good person who loved us and was loved.

I rise today to recognize the outstanding work of Donald Halsey and Johnny Valencia from the Salvation Army chapter in Scarborough Centre.

The organization has been serving the community for over 50 years. Their leadership has been instrumental in providing critical services such as operating a homeless shelter, providing housing and support services; running a food bank to help assist the needy; counselling, job training, financial literacy; and the list goes on. They have a network of churches throughout the Scarborough community.

Their school meal program provides meals for children who may not have this regular access at home. Last year, 115,000 students received nutritious meals that helped them learn and thrive.

I want to acknowledge the staff and scores of volunteers for their hard work and dedication in making a positive impact in their community of Scarborough Centre.

It is a real shame in 2023 that we still lose loved ones because of weak enforcement of workplace health and safety regulations. But that is what happens every year—nearly 1,000 workers die from work-related injuries and illness, while others are injured or suffer from occupational diseases. This is why we gather on April 28—a day set aside to honour the memories of fallen workers—to raise awareness for those who suffer the consequences of work-related injuries and illness, and commit ourselves to do more. Across Canada, people will gather to express these common beliefs; that all workers deserve a safe work environment, and that we must learn from past tragedies. This is why we state clearly that we need more than promises from employers and government.

We gather to celebrate the Westray Bill C-45, but also to demand that it be enforced. We have to do this because every year too many workers are victims of work-related injuries, occupational diseases, and lose their lives on the job. Those numbers confirm that the law is not being sufficiently enforced.

It is clear that proactivity is central in the prevention of workplace injuries. Being vigilant to potential threat and holding companies accountable for their neglect are just two ways in which we can ensure workers are able to go home once their workday is over.

The member for Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry.

Third reading debate deemed adjourned.

I’ll remind members: You have 90 seconds. I will be cutting you off after 90 seconds for your members’ statements.

I recognize the member for Scarborough Centre.

It’s my pleasure to participate in today’s third reading debate on Bill 60. I’d like to thank the member from Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston for sharing his time with me today.

Speaker, Ontario’s population is projected to increase by almost 15% over the next 10 years. The population of seniors aged 75 and older is expected to increase from 1.2 million to 1.8 million over the same period. We need to continue to grow our health care workforce to meet the needs of our growing population.

Last fall, our government began our work to develop the integrated capacity and health human resources plan for Ontario. We are analyzing current gaps in our system, anticipating needs over the next 10 years and determining solutions to address growing needs in health care. Unlike previous governments, our plan will focus on how to meet this demand through investments, health human resources and innovative solutions.

This year, we are building on this work and shifting our focus to working directly with leaders in our health care system on a workforce plan that includes where to prioritize current and future resources, addressing minimizing system gaps and building a strong health care system for the long term. We will also look at specific strategies for increasing the number of health care professionals, starting with physician assistants, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, registered practical nurses and medical laboratory technologists.

We’ll also look at the retention of our health care workforce through incentives, leveraging programs like the Learn and Stay program. We will ensure we have a greater understanding of each community and their needs, and that we have a plan to recruit and retain the health care workers needed, including family doctors, nurses, specialists and other health providers. We will prioritize areas most in need, like rural and remote communities, where gaps already exist. This plan will incorporate the lessons learned from COVID-19 and ensure we are prepared and equipped to meet the health care needs of Ontarians for years to come.

Speaker, that’s why this legislation is so important to the people of Ontario—it builds a framework to ensure that care will be available when and where people need it across the whole province. With that framework come historic investments in new hospitals and adding more beds. Since 2018, we’ve added 3,500 more hospital beds. But we aren’t stopping there. We’re moving quickly to expand and modernize Ontario’s hospitals, to ensure you are able to connect to quality care, when and where you need it.

Our investments over the next 10 years will lead to $40 billion in health infrastructure across the province. These investments will increase the number of people hospitals can care for, build new health care facilities, and renew existing hospitals and community health centres. As of the end of 2022, we have already approved 50 hospital development projects that will create more than 3,000 new hospital beds in communities across the province by 2032. We are also investing $182 million this year to support vital repairs, maintenance and upgrades to Ontario’s hospitals. New and redeveloped hospitals with more space to care for patients will ultimately lead to shorter wait times and less hallway health care.

To staff these new, upgraded facilities, we’re launching the largest health care recruiting initiative in our province’s history. Ontario has the most dedicated and highly trained health workforce in the world. They step up day in and day out to keep you and I and communities across the province safe and healthy. We’ve made significant progress recently to increase the number of health care workers available to provide care and support. Together, we’ve come so far. Over 60,000 new nurses and nearly 8,000 new doctors—

I was able to listen to Jillian Lynch address the crowd. Jillian is here today, and she is a young professional who is unstoppable in her drive to help others. Jillian is the example of selflessness and strength. She grew up with her family not far from where I live in St. Andrews West, along with her brother Myles, who had a lifelong battle with cystic fibrosis. Myles Lynch was the first Canadian to successfully undergo three double lung transplants at SickKids here in Toronto.

Myles tragically passed away on December 31, 2021, after bravely living life to the fullest. In the months before his passing, Myles had told Jillian to chase after every dream without hesitation.

Jillian has been committed to sharing Myles’s story and giving back to the institutions that helped Myles and her family.

Jillian is chasing dreams and changing the world. This young lady has quite the impressive résumé. Hopefully, Speaker, I’ll have enough time to share some of her accomplishments. Jillian has become a sought-after public speaker for the non-profits that had supported her family. Jillian has delivered speeches for the SickKids Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Canada, Federated Health Charities of Canada, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Jillian delivered 178 presentations for the Heart and Stroke Foundation within four months to companies across Toronto, raising $1.6 million. Jillian also dedicated cycling across Canada to raise funds for SickKids in Toronto. She was recognized as a top 30 change-maker under 30.

I know your community is proud of your work, Jillian. I have no doubt your parents are proud of your drive and determination. Myles would be quite proud of the accomplishments and advocacy, Jillian. Keep up the amazing work.

Housing is a human right, but in Ontario, things have gone terribly wrong. There isn’t enough actual affordable housing across communities. This government isn’t building it, and it isn’t supporting low-income tenants.

Lately we’ve been hearing about slumlords who aren’t maintaining units. They’re allowing mould to fester. They’re not fixing appliances. They’re not turning the heat on. We know of abuse of the landlord’s-own-use evictions, where landlords have been caught lying, trying to evict tenants. There’s rampant discrimination in applying for housing. Many landlords are not accepting folks on ODSP, new Canadians, or racialized people.

Recently, I met with folks on Ontario Works who need better protections from slumlords. They told me that instead of first and last months’ rent being required now, they’re being asked for four months or more to even compete for a spot.

People who are sharing a room have zero protections, because they aren’t technically tenants. So when they answer an ad and are forced to pay $800 a month for a room and then move in and find another person, a stranger, paying the same amount for the other half of the room, there’s nothing they can do and there’s nowhere for them to go.

The human trafficking coalition in Durham recently flagged that a new danger is accommodation ads targeting vulnerable, unhoused women. Ads for a bedroom rental in a house or apartment often look safe and renovated. However, many of these addresses aren’t even residential, but a young girl looking for a safe place to live doesn’t know that, and predators are counting on it.

Ugly things are happening in Ontario. Home is supposed to be a safe place, and in Ontario, this government is turning its back on low-income and underserved Ontarians. Just because this government pretends it isn’t happening doesn’t mean it isn’t.

Do better. These are people’s lives.

Earlier this week, in question period, I raised the issue of wait times for breast cancer surgery at the Ottawa Hospital. I told the story of Lisa, whose wait was so long she was forced to travel to a private clinic in Montreal and pay $50,000 for life-saving surgery.

Lisa is not the only woman who has suffered as a result of unconscionable wait times at the Ottawa Hospital.

Christine MacMillan of Ottawa was stunned when her surgeon suggested that she go private. She said the wait “was torture.”

Gail Kelpin said that two surgeons suggested she consider a private clinic for surgery, and because she travels for work, one surgeon suggested that she may have to go to another country.

How is it that at the Ottawa Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Ontario, only 13% of women are getting their breast cancer surgeries within the safe recommended time? At the Civic campus, it’s not much better: 29%. And for gynecological cancers at the same hospital, it’s 30%.

There’s a reason that Ontario started measuring wait times in 2007: It was to prevent this from happening.

The hospital, the ministry, the minister, and the Premier have failed these women and their families.

There needs to be action now so that these women can get the care they need and deserve.

On April 24, the Armenian community of Ontario and Canada commemorated the 108thanniversary of the Armenian genocide which took place in the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923. Some 1.5 million Armenians perished in one of the first genocides of the 20th century. I am the grandson of survivors of the Armenian and the Greek genocides.

Armenians will never forget that during their darkest hours Canadians stood by the survivors. The Armenian Relief Association of Canada, under the patronage of Governor General Byng, Archbishop Neil McNeil, venerable Archdeacon Cody, Colonel Sir Henry Pellatt, and other prominent Canadians raised $300,000 to feed, clothe and house the refugees. Toronto’s the Globe spearheaded the campaign to raise funds for the “starving Armenians.” Furthermore, the association brought 109 orphan boys to Canada and resettled them on a farm near Georgetown. At the same time, nurse Sara Corning of Nova Scotia saved 5,000 Armenian and Greek orphans from slaughter in the city of Smyrna.

In keeping with the tradition of our forbearers and Canada’s first international humanitarian mission—