Thank you to the member opposite for the question.

Obviously, we’re doing everything we can to make sure the ambulances are there when they’re needed, and we have a four-point strategy in place to decrease ambulance offload times, which is holding up some of the ambulances, including: returning ambulances to the communities faster; providing timely and appropriate care in the community; increasing non-ambulance transport services for medically stable patients; and we’re maximizing health human resource capacity.

We’re doing all of those things as well as updating O. Reg. 257/00 under the Ambulance Act, which allows other health care professionals, including physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists to provide patient care in addition to paramedics in air ambulance or other configurations where that is necessary.

We’re going to make sure that we build a better health care system here in Ontario.

After decades of underfunding, it is this government that has made unprecedented investments in our health care system. We’re investing $77.5 billion into our health care system this year. Health care funding has increased at 6.2% year over year, the largest increase on record, including an over $5-billion increase in base funding and 8.9% increase in base funding, which is unprecedented. No previous base funding increase has been that increased year over year.

We’ve added 3,500 new hospital beds; we’re in the process of adding another 3,000. We’ve added 11,700 health care workers. The College of Nurses of Ontario recently said that they’ve added over 12,800 new nurses before the year ends—the most ever recorded. This government will get it done.

Thank you to the member opposite for the question. This government, this Premier and the Ministry of Health are committed to supporting high-quality palliative end-of-life care for all Ontarians who need it, and I think we’ve done more than any government in recent history to support that initiative.

In 2019-20, the ministry provided Hospice Palliative Care Ontario with $1.7 million in additional funding over two years to support initiatives related to advance care planning. In October 2021, Ontario introduced a one-time investment of $23 million in hospice residences across the province to help them continue to provide high-quality, compassionate end-of-life services and care to people and their loved ones during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ministry is also supporting new hospices across Ontario by contributing to the cost of operating and constructing new and existing facilities. This government is making historic investments in palliative and end-of-life care, and we will continue to do so.

This government and Ministry of Health recognize the important role that hospices play in helping people live well from the time of diagnosis to a terminal illness at the end of life and while grieving a death. We continue to look for other opportunities to work with and implement the province’s palliative care framework and to work with Hospice Palliative Care Ontario.

My question is to the Premier. In September, alongside my colleague from Toronto–St. Paul’s, I wrote to you about reports that Niagara hospitals turned away sexual assault survivors from receiving a local sexual assault evidence kit due to staffing shortages. Over the last three years, nearly 30 Niagara survivors had been asked to travel as far as Burlington or to come back later. Survivors need to be put first, not have their justice put at risk.

Niagara Health is seeking additional funding to support their staffing shortages for their sexual assault hospital program. They’ve heard nothing from this government. Today, will you approve that funding request? And will it explain why survivors in Niagara are being left behind?

New Brunswick as well reported that survivors had been turned away. However, last week they announced sweeping changes. Simply, this is about priorities. It’s about women. It’s about justice. Niagara Health, our nurses and front-line staff are going above and beyond, doing the best they can. However, they need more support. They need more funding.

Can the minister assure women that Ontario’s hospital response programs are not understaffed across this province, and that it will find ways to make sure this situation never, ever happens again?