The one thing that the member opposite and I can agree on is that in fact it is not acceptable. However, I think that the numbers show that, through the use of Ontario Health, making sure that we fully utilize emergency department locums, we’ve actually avoided almost 2,000 of these emergency department closures.

We are building, through your health plan, capacity to add emergency physicians, primary care physicians and nurses. We have now a plan that actually gives us an opportunity to serve the people of Ontario through their primary care physicians and through their hospital networks, ensuring that when people need the care they deserve and expect in the province of Ontario, through a fully provincially funded system, we will be there with that support.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. In the last 12 months, Ontario emergency rooms have closed at least 158 times. This is the equivalent of 184 days when the urgent medical needs of Ontarians were not being met in their communities. These closures are unacceptable. They put people’s health and lives at risk. Why hasn’t the Premier acted to address the crisis in our emergency rooms?

When will the government finally prioritize the health of Ontarians, respect our health care workers and keep our ERs open?

You want affordable housing? Don’t build luxury urban sprawl. Let’s start there.

Speaker, the government doesn’t like it because they know that their integrity is in question, and the Premier doesn’t like to answer questions because he knows where it leads.

On Friday, the Public Order Emergency Commission published their report on the use of the Emergencies Act, and the findings are very distressing. When Ottawa residents were being harassed in their communities last February, while small businesses were being forced to close, the Premier, the Solicitor General and the Minister of Transportation all chose not to help. In fact, it was only when protests moved to other parts of this province that they were forced to do something.

What does the Premier have to say to Ottawa residents now that we know the extent of his government’s failure to act?

Speaker, witnesses told the commission that this government was “trying to avoid responsibility for a crisis within its borders.” While federal and municipal officials were meeting regularly to try to navigate this crisis, Ontario’s Premier and the ministers responsible ghosted the people of Ottawa. The report’s chapter on the provincial response is actually titled, “Ontario’s Absence.”

Why was the Premier absent? I really hope the Premier will answer this question for the people of Ontario and the people of Ottawa. Why was the Premier absent when the people of Ottawa needed his help?

When the people of Ottawa needed help, the Premier sat on his hands. But when wealthy developers wanted to turn a profit on protected greenbelt land, suddenly the law was changed, like that. Is this how our province works now: one set of rules for the Premier’s friends and associates and another for everyone else? That’s how it is?

Last week, the Public Order Emergency Commission confirmed what Ottawa residents already knew: that in the midst of the crisis last year, the Premier and his ministers abandoned us. One section of the report says it all, Speaker: “Ontario’s Absence.”

Justice Rouleau noted that the situation could have been resolved earlier, but the Premier refused to engage and repeatedly tried to shift his responsibility to others. Will the Premier finally take responsibility now, a year later, and apologize to the people of Ottawa?

It’s an honour to rise today and table this petition on behalf of thousands of residents of Ottawa West–Nepean who have signed it, entitled “Support the Protecting Human Rights in an Emergency Act.

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas people with mobility challenges who live in multi-storey apartments and condominiums require an elevator in order to be able to get in and out of their own homes and access food and medical care;

“Whereas access to clean, safe water is a human right, and people living in multi-storey condominium and apartments buildings depend on water pumps in order to have clean and safe water in their homes;

“Whereas climate change is causing an increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which will make prolonged power outages more common;

“Whereas power outages cause significant hardship for people in multi-storey apartments and condominiums that do not have backup power generators, forcing them to remain in their unit without access to food, water, or medical care, or diverting emergency responders to evacuate residents;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to support the Protecting Human Rights in an Emergency Act, which will ensure that all apartments and condominiums have an emergency backup power generator installed in their building that can power an elevator, water pumps, and lights in common areas.”

I wholeheartedly endorse this petition, will add my name to it and send it to the table with page Keira.