I want to thank the member for his remarks.

I’m proud to see what’s happening in my hometown of Windsor—Windsor Surgical Centre, operated by the Windsor Regional Hospital, with two esteemed and respected doctors, Dr. Barry Emara and Dr. Fouad Tayfour. They’ve been operating for a number of years now to provide ophthalmology. One of the keys to it is integration with local hospitals.

I’m wondering if you could speak to how integration with hospitals and other health care settings will reduce the wait times that we are experiencing in both our community facilities and our hospitals.

I’ll just talk to the response to that question quickly. It was a Conservative government that closed 43 hospitals and laid off 6,000 nurses—under their watch. It was also the Conservative government, under Mike Harris, that brought in the privatization of our long-term-care facilities, which also, as we’ve seen over the course of COVID—5,500 of our moms, our dads, our aunts, our uncles, our brothers, our sisters died in long-term-care, but the stat that jumps out at you is that 78% of those died in long-term-care facilities that were private. It wasn’t about care. It was about profit. That’s the record.

Why would you ever think to go down the same road that you did with long-term care after you have that example in front of you? As you privatize our health care system across the province of Ontario, more people will die.

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.

Speaker, today I rise, honoured to represent the people of Ajax. Over the last week, I had the privilege of touring two exceptional community care organizations in my riding, which I would like to share with you. The first one is SE Health, an organization providing exceptional health care services for over a century, with more than 8,000 employees nationwide, including nearly 1,000 health care workers in Ajax and its surrounding areas. SE Health delivers over 20,000 home care visits per week to Ajax and its surrounding communities. During my tour, I had the pleasure of meeting with Kyle the manager, and I would like to extend my gratitude to him and the entire SE team for their dedication to our community. I’d also like to thank the patients who shared their stories of satisfaction and the difference their care has made outside of the hospitals.

The second organization I had the pleasure of visiting was Carea Community Health Centre, where I was joined by my colleague PA Dawn Gallagher Murphy. This registered charity offers free community services and programs, such as health promotion and wellness programs, counselling, primary care, and education. I was particularly impressed by their recent event Taking Black Our Health, which focused on advancing health equity in Durham.

I’d like to take a moment to extend my sincere gratitude to SE Health and Carea health for the exceptional work they do in our community. Your commitment to high-quality health care services and programs is truly commendable. The dedication of your staff—

Thank you, and it’s great to see you in the chair, Speaker.

The member opposite knows very well that hospitals are responsible for their day-to-day operations and make those decisions independent of the Ministry of Health and government. We have been assured that the Haliburton Highlands Health Services board and leadership have made this decision carefully and thoughtfully, understanding and appreciating the needs of their community and their staff. I will let them do that work.

Our government continues to support hospitals in many ways, including Haliburton Highlands Health Services, to which we have increased funding by 11% since we came into office.

This is not a funding conversation; this is a conversation that the hospital leadership, the hospital board has made based on the needs of the community, and appreciating that they want to best serve the community, and they’ve done that.

My question is for the Premier.

This government announced their new pilot program, connecting children and youth with specialized care, on March 9, partnering with three hospitals, including the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Sonjia, a mother of a child with autism, shared with me that she called CHEO on the very day of the announcement, and staff had no idea what she was talking about. They could not answer any of her questions on who could enrol, how to enrol, or what the program specifically offered. She could not get the basic information, let alone enrol her child. Staff told Sonjia they would follow up with her. When she called back two days later, the program was already filled.

How can the Premier boast about a pilot program when their government cannot even ensure the hospitals who are administering the program—