Good morning. Yesterday, I introduced the Till Death Do Us Part legislation for the third time. I first became involved with reunification of couples in long-term care back in December 2017. In 2019, I learned of the story of Jim McLeod and his wife, Joan, who now have been separated for four and a half years. He travelled here to listen to the debate in 2019 and wasn’t impressed that the bill sat in committee for three years before prorogation.

Recently, I learned of the quest of my constituent Debbie Wang. She is on a challenge to reunite her father, who is in a long-term-care home here in Toronto, as it’s the only place he can receive culturally appropriate care, and her mother, who is an ALC patient at Cambridge Memorial Hospital and will soon be forced to move to a long-term-care facility not of her choosing, due to Bill 7. Debbie’s father said his ongoing separation from his mother is making him lose his will to live. Ontario is failing them.

I’ve raised this issue with successive ministers over the years. The pandemic obviously revealed how broken the caring of seniors has become under successive governments. One could argue rectifying the situation is a matter of compassion and humanity.

The government House leader has said that in the wake of the passage of Bill 7, every effort will be made to keep patients “as close as possible” to their families. This is your chance to put those words into action. Let’s get it done.