My question is for the Minister of Health. Just over two months ago, I tabled my private member’s bill to address the most predatory hiring and recruitment practices used by temporary nursing agencies, while also establishing a safe and responsible licensing framework. Mere days after I tabled this legislation, the Minister of Long-Term Care stated that he would form a technical advisory committee to examine the issue of price gouging by nursing agencies.

But since then, it’s been radio silence. Instead, all we’ve heard is a cry for help from hospitals and health care workers in response to legislation like Bill 124 and a worsening lack of government support. This kind of public policy makes the tragic situation in Minden inevitable. Now this government is doing what it does best: It’s looking the other way. It’s washing its hands of the Minden hospital, and it’s washing its hands of our health care system. Why? So that temporary nursing agencies can profit? So that private, for-profit clinics can turn a profit?

This government is an expert in looking the other way. When will the Minister of Health stop looking the other way and look at the mess she’s made of Minden’s and Ontario’s health care?

Patients rely on local emergency departments in times of crisis. This isn’t about Minden, it’s about the 2.2 million Ontarians who don’t have access to a family doctor, who are forced to rely on emergency rooms as their only source of primary care.

This government claims hospital closures are not their jurisdiction. Well, the greenbelt wasn’t supposed to be their jurisdiction either, but somehow this government finds a way to get what it wants.

If they wanted to keep local hospitals open, they would. Solving emergency room closures would mean paying health care workers a fair wage. It would mean telling private, for-profit interests to rein it in. But they won’t.

I know this government loves saying yes to corporate interests, but just for once, for the sake of patients, not profits, will this government say no to the most predatory practices of temporary nursing agencies?