I listened intently to the remarks from the member from Durham and he opened them with, “Now is not the time to double down on policies that do not work.”

I’d like to remind the House that this government introduced Bill 124, capped public service wages at 1%, drove health care workers out of the sector, and they’re being rehired by agencies and going back into the hospitals and long-term-care homes for twice as much money. This bill was ruled unconstitutional, yet this government is now appealing it, effectively doubling down on a policy that doesn’t work. My question to the member for Durham is, why?

My question is to the member for Lanark–Frontenac–Kingston. Over the last couple of weeks, I have raised some issues in question period based on what I’m hearing from residents of London West. I talked about two young nurses who are leaving London, moving to other provinces, moving to the US, because of the way that they are treated here, because of the way they feel disrespected and demoralized and exhausted because of this government’s policies.

The health care programs that the member talked about all depend on having a health care workforce in place. My question is, why is the government not dropping its appeal of the unconstitutional Bill 124 and moving forward so we can actually have the health care workers we need in order to deliver the health care services that Ontarians deserve?