I just want to thank my seatmate and my friend from Thunder Bay–Superior North for those comments. And, just mindful for people watching, we have paramedics with us here in the chamber. We have people who put themselves in harm’s way every single day in communities. You spoke very eloquently about the need to have a WSIB system that will be there for workers, particularly when they get injured. And it hurts me to say this morning that there is a $6-billion surplus at the WSIB. As you said time and again, we have an organization that makes a business out of refuting claims. So do you have a message for paramedics this morning about the fact that—

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. Lately, in the city of Greater Sudbury, 40% of a paramedic’s time is spent waiting to off-load patients to Health Sciences North’s overcrowded emergency department. The city of Greater Sudbury is huge. If an ambulance and the paramedics are stuck at the hospital, that leaves the good people of Beaver Lake, of Wahnapitae First Nation, of Levack up to one hour away from emergency services. Does the Premier think that it is okay to leave the people of my riding waiting up to one hour for paramedical emergency care to arrive?

There is no doubt that paramedics play a vital role in our health care system. We have done some innovative things in the last number of months that are highlighting exactly what the member opposite is referencing: the dedicated off-load nursing program that we have put in place, investing over $23 million to ensure that hospitals that wish to hire a dedicated nurse off-load position can do so, so that paramedics can more quickly get back out onto the road and into our community. The 911 changes that we have made to ensure that paramedics, with patient approval, can take that individual to somewhere other than an emergency room, whether that is a mental health facility, a long-term-care facility, has really made a difference. We are making those investments because we see that we have an excellent workforce that really understands how, at their core, we can assist patients in our communities.

Well, paramedic effectiveness is directly linked to the quality of the dispatch system that sends them to the call.

Did you know, Speaker, that Ontario is the only province that does not have 911 everywhere? Every year, in my riding, people in distress find out that 911 is not available. The paramedics are there, but you need to dial a 1-800 number that nobody knows.

When is the Premier going to modernize our province’s emergency dispatch system to ensure that 911 is available everywhere in Ontario?