Speaker, it’s not just seniors that they’re serving up. Yesterday, we learned that adults aged 20 to 64 with lazy eye will lose OHIP coverage for eye exams and will now be forced to pay out of pocket. Adults 20 to 64 with strabismus will lose their coverage and must now pay out of pocket, unless it just developed suddenly.

And we found out that people with cataracts are losing their eye exam coverage unless they’re referred for surgery or have “clinically significant decreased vision.”

Back to the Minister of Health again: How is reducing access to preventive eye care going to help anyone?

This program cost an average of just $5 million a year. I’ve got to tell you, Minister, that’s the salary of just four OPG executives right there, under this government. But the point is that this program helped more than 400,000 uninsured people since it was implemented, not just four. Quick math—that’s $37.50 a person, and it helped save lives.

So my question to the minister is, will she reverse this callous decision and help save lives?

We all know that this government refuses to make their mandate letters public. They’ve even gone so far as to waste public money by going to the Supreme Court to keep them secret.

But I want to ask the new minister: After years of mismanagement, what direction have you been given for this critical role?

The latest report from the Financial Accountability Office found that this government had budgeted but failed to spend nearly $500 million on social services by the third quarter of the last fiscal. That’s half a billion dollars that this government planned to invest in Ontarians and then just didn’t. That’s $500 million withheld from the critical services that people rely on, at a time when Ontarians, when people in this province, are really struggling.

My question to the minister, again, is, are you going to stand up to this Premier and fight for the people who need your help?

I really wonder about these figures that I’m hearing from the members opposite. This government has no problem finding $650 million hidden between seat cushions so they can pave over a public park and then hand it over to some Austrian corporate conglomerate to build a private spa. But they can’t find a measly 5% increase—that’s all they can find, is 5% for people on ODSP or OW, well below the cost of inflation, not nearly enough to help people put food on the table.

My question is to the minister. Will you commit to ending this legislated poverty by immediately doubling ODSP and OW?

Last week, Uganda passed a deadly law criminalizing LGBTQ+ people. On Sunday, at an emergency meeting with 150 people, I heard first-hand about the homophobic violence.

Until March 31, Ontarians without status have access to health care because of the province’s Physician and Hospital Services for Uninsured Persons program.

Will the Premier please listen to the Ontario Medical Association and reinstate health care for undocumented people, set to expire in three days?

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health, who, in three days, plans to cut health care funding to the most vulnerable people in Ontario. In doing so, the minister is sending the message that those without OHIP do not deserve the same care as the rest of us. But this is Ontario. This is Canada. Everyone deserves care.

The reality is, most uninsured people actually are entitled to health insurance, but they face social and physical barriers that prevent them from getting an OHIP card. This government is singling out the people who need their help the most and telling them they would rather save a buck than fund their health care. Uninsured people will still get care once they are sick enough, and it is downright sad and not the least bit surprising that the minister is perfectly fine pushing the financial burden onto our already strained health care budgets.

Why does the minister think it’s a good idea to financially drain our public hospitals further, and why must she do it by draining the dignity of our patients?

In the week of March 12 to 18, there were almost 4,000 COVID cases in Ontario and 213 hospitalizations. What happens when that number begins to rise again next fall and all of this funding is cut and none of these programs are in place—no paid sick days, no hospital funding, no coverage for uninsured people? Who will pay for the minister’s cruelty and recklessness then?

I would like to thank the 1,764 people who have signed this petition since Sunday. It goes as follows:

“Keep Coverage for Uninsured People in Ontario.

“Whereas the Ford government is set to cut access to health care for uninsured people on March 31, 2023;

“Whereas three years ago, the ... government expanded access to health care for uninsured people across Ontario, with coverage for all hospital-based care and some community-based care;

“Whereas cutting access to health care will lead to immense suffering and possibly death for migrants, the homeless and others without health insurance. It also burdens our already strained health care system, as people may delay seeking care until they are very sick;”

They “petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to reverse” the “decision” of the government “to ensure access to health for all.”

I fully support this petition, will affix my name to it and ask my good page Shah to bring it to the Clerk.