In fact, Speaker, we are. We have the OMA here today. We have family physicians who are offering flu shots to their patients. We have public health units that are putting on clinics. We have local pharmacies that have historically offered flu shots in the province of Ontario and continue to do so. There are many different pathways for individuals who wish to get their flu shot, and I would strongly encourage they do so, to get it depending on what is convenient for them in their community.

Ma question est pour le premier ministre. This morning, the Ontario Health Coalition, the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly and Goldblatt Partners law firm announced that they are launching a charter challenge against Bill 7. As you know, Speaker, Bill 7 takes away the right of frail elderly people to give consent and to keep their personal health information private.

All weekend, health care workers reached out to me—social workers, nurses, physicians. They do not want to have to tell their patients that they will be charged $400 a day if they refuse to be moved to a long-term-care home hundreds of kilometres away. Many of them will quit rather than do something that goes completely against their ethical and moral values.

You see, Speaker, contrary to this government, health care workers do not discriminate against frail elderly people. They care for them. Will the government do the right thing and repeal Bill 7?

The short answer is, no. Obviously, Bill 7 is about the right care in the right place at the right time. We’ve said that right from the beginning. I don’t think anybody would suggest that the right place for somebody who wants to be in a long-term-care home is in a hospital bed. That is obviously not the right place for them. What Bill 7 allows us to do is continue those conversations to ensure that somebody who is waiting for a long-term-care bed can get access to that long-term-care bed.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, last week alone, over 330 ALC patients have chosen to go to long-term-care beds in the province of Ontario. It is a better quality of care; it is where they want to be. Very plainly to the member opposite: No, we will not repeal Bill 7 because it is in the best interest of people who are sitting in acute-care beds, keeping beds away from people who need them, and from people who want to be in long-term care. We’ll continue to work with patients to ensure that they can transition from being a patient to being a resident in a home.

Now, we’ve gone even further than that. It wasn’t just about Bill 7. It’s also about the staffing, Mr. Speaker. That’s why we’ve increased staffing to four hours of care. We’ve made that commitment, and each and every year, we’re adding onto that commitment. In fact, in the member’s own riding—now, get this, Mr. Speaker—he voted against it. He voted against an increase in staffing of $4 million in 2021. He voted against $10 million the year after. He’s voted against $18 million for 2021-22 and he’s also voted against $26 million in extra nursing care in his own riding to support the over 400 new and redeveloped beds in his own community.

I’m happy to present this petition from Ontarians who are being served by Hamilton Health Sciences, and it reads as follows:

“Petition to Protect Patient Care in Operating Rooms at Hamilton Health Sciences....

“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

“Whereas patients requiring surgery have complex care needs, some of which are urgent or life-threatening diseases and under anesthetic can become unstable, unpredictable, quickly change or deteriorate; and

“Whereas a scrub nurse is a member of the surgical team who provides a surgeon with instruments while maintaining a sterile environment, acts on and anticipates their requests, prepares medications, assists with retraction of tissue, communicates to circulating registered nurses (RNs) patient care needs, and responds in emergencies; and

“Whereas more health care providers are needed to address the surgical backlog, but surgical patients need a regulated nurse in a scrub nurse role who has the education, training and qualifications of a diploma or degree and a specialized credential in surgical nursing that makes them knowledgeable, expertly skilled and experienced, and anything less puts patient safety at risk; and

“Whereas Hamilton Health Sciences’s new surgical model of care is to replace nurses who perform the scrub nurse role in operating rooms, with unregulated operating room assistants (ORAs); and

“Whereas Hamilton Health Sciences’s actions to replace nurses with unregulated health care providers erodes the standard of care that patients will receive because ORAs cannot respond to patient care needs and they are not accountable to the public for the care they provide; and

“Whereas the Operating Room Nurses Association of Canada (ORNAC) recommends that the scrub nurse role be performed only by nurses; and

“Whereas cutting nursing care in operating rooms means patients can suffer from unnecessary complications or death because of unrecognized care needs, delayed care, miscommunication, or errors;

“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario as follows:

“Immediately stop operating room assistants from performing the scrub nurse role at Hamilton Health Sciences;

“Stop any further plans to cut and replace registered nurses within the operation rooms at Hamilton Health Sciences;

“Cease the new surgical model of care that replaces scrub nurses with operating room assistants because it does not adhere to Hamilton Health Sciences’s mission to provide excellent health care to the community it serves.”

I am very happy to present this petition. There are 802 signatures on it, with 90% of them residents from Hamilton and the surrounding communities. I want to thank the registered nurses for advocating for patient safety. I’m proud to affix my name to this petition, and I’m going to send it to the table with page Mabel.