I thank the member from Sarnia–Lambton for his question.

It’s no secret that the delivery of health care has been a struggle in our community. We actually compete with the city of Detroit for our nursing staff. In fact, my next door neighbour, Sandra, a phenomenal nurse, was cut back by a previous government in her career, so she was scooped up by an HMO in Michigan.

We need to provide modern facilities. This government has brought that hope and optimism back by finally approving the Windsor-Essex regional acute-care hospital, giving practitioners the dignity of a sound place to work, with proper equipment that’s not left over from 40 years ago. This is a tremendous investment. This is the only government to get behind it. I’m so happy that it made this investment prior to my arrival and that we’re going to get the job done in delivering this much-needed facility for the people of Windsor and Essex county.

Tragically, we have lost an amazing young woman in our community, Melinda Moote. Friends and family described her as “the best humanity has to offer.”

Melinda suffered from a rare disorder which was in remission, but symptoms recurred and she went to emergency in medical distress. There were only three triage nurses working, with 34 people waiting in front of her. Despite her life-threatening condition, she waited for hours. Finally, a nurse found her vomiting blood in a garbage can and barely conscious. Everything that could go wrong did—the long wait; important blood tests and plasma treatments missed. The family left wondering if this could have saved her life.

Melinda used her last days to write about our health care crisis from her hospital bed. True to her kind nature, she began by thanking the overwhelmed nurses and strangers who came to her aid. But she warned that our health care system is a broken system. Melinda said, “I’m hoping to add my voice so people know how bad it is. People aren’t dying from mysterious illnesses, it’s from lack of accessible preventable care.” She herself died a few days later.

This government’s cuts are literally letting people die needlessly—good people, our loved ones.

So for anyone hearing our pleas or the pleas of Melinda’s family, if your loved one has struggled with the health care system, join us in demanding urgent action. It’s going to take all of us to speak up, just like Melinda did in her dying days.

Oh, Speaker, that is really rich considering we’re actually returning to a program that existed under the Liberal government, that ensured individuals who do not have an active and up-to-date OHIP card have access to service, whether that is through Health811, where they can speak directly to a registered nurse; whether it is through midwifery care, community health centres—75 that operate within the province of Ontario; and, of course, through our publicly funded hospitals.

It is very, very challenging for me not to look at that member and say, “Look at your party’s history and say what was wrong with it in 2020 that suddenly doesn’t make it sufficient today.”